Investigating Memory in Toddlers: Insight from Neuroimaging and Eye Movements

项目摘要/摘要。当婴儿过渡到蹒跚学步的时候，他们记住特定细节的能力 关于他们的过去有了很大的改善。与此同时，对他们的记忆的明确要求也变得更多 经常发生，表现为要求寻找丢失的玩具或回忆分享的经历。用…来回应 适当的决定(例如，在正确的位置寻找玩具)，幼儿应该整合记忆 用他们目前的目标发出信号。在过去的几十年里，我们从 婴儿期和幼儿期影响记忆强度和持久性因素的行为学研究 然而，人们对早期的神经基础和决策过程知之甚少。 记忆功能正常。拟议的应用程序将开始解决文献中的这一差距，同时提供 有机会接受功能磁共振成像(FMRI)技术、眼睛跟踪方法、 实验设计和重复测量方法在发展认知神经科学中的应用 研究。在追求目标1的过程中，我将研究海马体对早期记忆能力的贡献，利用 新奇偏好作为记忆能力的内隐行为测量。预测更多的假设 海马体激活与在实验室中学到的对联想的更大新颖性偏好有关 测试过。蹒跚学步的孩子将学习卡通人物和歌曲之间的联系。对这些联想的记忆 将使用新颖性偏好程序进行评估。将测量海马区对歌曲的激活程度 利用在自然夜间睡眠期间收集的功能磁共振数据。在追求目标2的过程中，我将调查以下因素 影响幼儿做出准确记忆决定的能力，这将为临床提供额外的培训 根据美国国立卫生研究院的指定进行试验设计。具体地说，三个行为实验将检验如何操纵 幼儿对提取序列不同方面的注意会影响他们选择准确反应的能力。 假设包括预测幼儿的注意力将被吸引到阵列的新部分， 干扰将记忆信号整合到他们的决策中的能力，导致准确性降低。 相反，假设通过转移注意力的操作会增加明显的准确性。 远离新奇的刺激。目标1和目标2的研究结果都将提供大量 对典型和非典型发育儿童早期记忆功能理论的贡献，并将 有可能为未来教育领域的干预工作提供洞察力。

Project Summary/Abstract. As infants transition into toddlerhood, their ability to remember specific details about their past improves considerably. At the same time, explicit demands to their memories become more frequent, illustrated by requests to search for lost toys or reminiscing of shared experiences. To respond with the appropriate decision (e.g., to search for a toy at the correct location), toddlers ought to integrate memory signals with their current goals. Over the past several decades, we have learned a vast amount from behavioral studies about the factors affecting memory strength and persistence in infancy and early childhood. However, relatively little is known about the neural substrates and decision processes that underlie early memory functioning. The proposed application will begin to address this gap in the literature while providing an opportunity for training in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) techniques, eye tracking methods, experimental design, and repeated measures approaches utilized in developmental cognitive neuroscience research. In pursuing Aim 1, I will investigate the hippocampal contributions to early memory abilities, utilizing novelty preferences as the implicit behavioral measure of memory ability. Hypotheses predicting more hippocampal activation association with greater novelty preferences for associations learned in lab will be tested. Toddlers will learn associations between cartoon characters and a song. Memory for these associations will be assessed using a novelty preference procedure. Hippocampal activation for the songs will be measured utilizing fMRI data collected during natural nocturnal sleep. In pursuing Aim 2, I will investigate the factors affecting toddlers’ ability to make accurate memory decisions, which will provide additional training in clinical trials design per NIH designation. Specifically, three behavioral experiments will examine how manipulating toddlers’ attention to different aspects of a retrieval array affects their ability to select accurate responses. Hypotheses include predictions that toddlers’ attention will be attracted to the novel portion of the array, interfering with the ability to integrate memory signals into their decisions resulting in lower accuracy. Conversely, it is hypothesized that overt accuracy will be increased through manipulations that divert attention away from novel stimuli. Results from the studies from Aim 1 and for Aim 2 will both provide substantial contributions to theories of early memory functioning in typically and atypically developing children, and will have the potential to provide insight into future intervention efforts in educational domains.