The Development and Dynamics of Cortical Motion Processing

人们会搬家我们所处的世界充满了物体、动物和其他也在移动的人。视觉运动的感知模式为人类提供了关于他们前进的方向和速度的信息，以及环境中物体，动物和人的种类。科学家们对成年人如何感知运动以及他们的大脑如何对此做出反应有着相对详细的了解。但是，研究人员对婴儿和儿童时期运动感知的发展知之甚少，我们对检测和处理运动的大脑系统的了解更少。看来感知和大脑活动都需要很多年才能成熟。因此，该项目将测量婴儿，学龄儿童和成人的感知和大脑活动，以详细描述发展模式。该项目还将创建基于计算机的模型，以模仿人类大脑的发育方式。该项目的几个特点加强了其智力价值：运动处理有助于感知，认知和行动的许多方面;很少有研究关注从婴儿期到成年期的感知发展;而且，行为、大脑活动和计算机模拟的结合，保证了对基本感知系统的新见解。该项目将通过利用现有的NSF资助的教育，科学和技术卓越学习中心（CELEST）的专业知识和资源产生更广泛的影响;通过关注对儿童安全和正常认知和运动发育重要的科学问题;并通过吸引年轻人，特别是妇女和来自代表性不足群体的个人参与科学研究。

People move. The world we move about in is filled with objects, animals, and other people that also move. Perceiving patterns of visual motion provides humans with information about where they are heading and how fast, and about the kinds of objects, animals, and people in the environment. Scientists have relatively detailed knowledge about how adults perceive motion and how their brains respond to it. But, researchers know very little about how motion perception develops in infancy and childhood, and we know even less about the brain systems that detect and process motion. It appears that both perception and brain activity take many years to mature. So, this project will measure perception and brain activity in infants, school-age children, and adults to describe the patterns of development in detail. This project will also create computer-based models that mimic how the human brain develops. The goal is to understand how motion perception and motion-related brain activity change as humans mature.Several feature of this project strengthen its intellectual merit: Motion processing contributes to many aspects of perception, cognition, and action; few studies focus on perceptual development from infancy through adulthood; and, the combination of behavior, brain activity and computer-based simulation, promises new insights into a fundamental perceptual system. The project will have broader impacts by leveraging expertise and resources from the existing NSF-funded Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science and Technology (CELEST); by focusing on scientific questions important for child safety and normal cognitive and motor development; and by engaging young adults, especially women and individuals from underrepresented groups, in scientific research.