Dynamics of Episodic Memory Networks in the Developing Human Brain

记忆是一种重要的认知功能，在人类发展中起着至关重要的作用。从童年到成年早期，形成生动、详细记忆的能力显著提高。尽管对儿童记忆发展进行了广泛的行为研究，但对大脑成熟如何支持情景记忆发展知之甚少。先前的证据表明，记忆来自大脑中几个大规模网络的协调活动。从儿童到成人，这些与记忆相关的网络是如何发展的？它们是如何在发展过程中支持记忆能力的提高的？早期学习经历是否会影响这些网络的组织？它们是如何支持记忆发展的？该研究计划旨在通过采用一种新的多模态成像方法来研究从童年中期到成年早期记忆网络的发展，采用混合横截面/纵向设计来回答这些问题。拟议中的计划有三个短期目标。首先，我们旨在阐明记忆编码和提取过程中海马-皮层记忆网络的动态发展。其次，我们的目标是绘制记忆网络功能连通性的发展轨迹。第三，我们将研究记忆网络动态的可变性与发展过程中记忆性能的个体差异之间的关系。该研究计划将提供关于大脑中大规模记忆网络成熟的新知识，这些大脑网络如何支持记忆发展，并与发展过程中记忆表现的个体差异有关，以及不同的学习经历如何与这些过程相互作用。这些知识将对我理解大脑成熟与认知发展之间的相互作用这一长期研究目标做出重大贡献。提出的研究是新颖的，因为它通过应用多模态成像方法在网络水平上研究了大脑情景记忆系统的发展。网络层面的方法对于理解记忆如何在大脑中发展的完整图景至关重要。该研究具有高度创新性，因为它集成了尖端的多模态成像（以实现高空间和时间分辨率）、行为和计算方法，以解决不同记忆过程发展过程中网络相互作用的复杂动态。这项研究项目所获得的知识将更好地为教育和课堂策略提供信息。通过向科学界提供所开发的高分辨率磁共振方法，并通过向开放的科学知识库提供纵向多模态成像数据集，将最大限度地发挥拟议研究的广泛影响。

Memory is an essential cognitive function that plays a critical role in human development. The ability to form vivid, detailed memory improves significantly from childhood to young adulthood. Despite extensive behavioral research on memory development in children, very little is known about how brain maturation supports episodic memory development. Previous evidence suggests that memory arises from coordinated activities from several large-scale networks in the brain. How do these memory-related networks develop from children to adults? How do they support the improvement in memory abilities during development? Does early learning experience influence the organization of these networks and how they support memory development? The proposed research program aims to answer these questions by applying a novel multimodal imaging approach to investigate the development of memory networks from middle childhood to young adulthood, using a mixed cross-sectional/longitudinal design. The proposed program has three short-term objectives. First, we aim to elucidate the development of the hippocampal-cortical memory network dynamics during memory encoding and retrieval. Second, we aim to map out the developmental trajectory of the functional connectivity of the memory networks. Third, we will examine how variabilities in memory network dynamics relate to individual differences in memory performance during development.  The proposed research program will deliver new knowledge about the maturation of large-scale memory networks in the brain, how these brain networks support memory development and relate to individual differences in memory performance during development, and how different learning experiences interact with these processes. This knowledge will contribute significantly to my long-term research goal of understanding the interaction between brain maturation and cognitive development.  The proposed research is novel in that it investigates the development of episodic memory systems in the brain at the network level by applying a multimodal imaging approach. A network-level approach is crucial to understand the complete picture of how memory develops in the brain. The proposed research is highly innovative in that it integrates cutting-edge multimodal imaging (to achieve high spatial and temporal resolution), behavioral, and computational methods to tackle the complex dynamics of network interactions during the development of different memory processes. The knowledge gained by this research program will better inform education and classroom strategies.  The broader impact of the proposed research will be maximized by making available to the scientific community the high-resolution MR methods developed and by contributing longitudinal multimodal imaging datasets to open science repositories.