The neural correlates of motivation and behaviour change in human aging

动机是启动和维持思想、情绪和行为的能力，以回应我们的环境并实现我们的目标。尽管动机对健康老龄化的个人、社会和社会结果产生影响，但人们对其大脑基础知之甚少。更深入地了解动机学习和行为改变背后的基本机制，对于帮助老年人参与服务于其目标的行动至关重要，从健康的生活方式选择到碳足迹行为，再到公民参与。我的研究计划的长期愿景是定义神经行为机制，这些机制是在培训下一代专家的同时，在健康的人类衰老过程中动机、学习和行为变化之间相互作用的基础。为了实现这一目标，我采用了融合方法，结合了尖端行为和多模式脑成像技术，包括功能和结构磁共振成像(MRI)。这一新知识有可能为公共政策提供信息，并影响支持成功认知老化的新颖、个性化、神经生物学信息的战略和技术的发展。

Motivation is the ability to initiate and sustain thoughts, emotions and behaviours to respond to our surroundings and accomplish our goals. Despite the impact of motivation on individual, social and societal outcomes in healthy aging, its brain basis is poorly understood. A deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying motivated learning and behaviour change is critical to help older adults engage in actions that serve their goals, from healthful lifestyle choices, to carbon footprint behaviours, to civic engagement. The long-term vision of my research program is to define the neurobehavioural mechanisms that underlie the interaction among motivation, learning and behaviour change in healthy human aging while training the next generation of experts. To accomplish this goal, I apply converging methods that combine cutting-edge behavioural and multi-modal brain imaging techniques including functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This new knowledge has the potential to inform public policy and impact the development of novel, personalized, neurobiologically-informed strategies and technologies to support successful cognitive aging.