AROUSAL AND ATTENTION IN HIGH-RISK NEONATES

该项目继续研究早产儿和脑损伤新生儿， 假设（a）这些风险条件不同地降低了 调节唤醒和注意力过程的能力，以及（B）所述 唤醒/注意调节的中断模式预测了两者 早期脑损伤的程度和后来的百分比认知和 动机发展。 我们已经开发并完善了一套 新生儿的行为，使用视觉偏好技术，显示 偏好函数的系统性差异 由于内部和外部的变化而引起的唤醒的操纵 刺激的来源。 我们已经证明：（a）高风险和 早产儿与正常足月儿一样， 看偏好与唤醒操纵;但（B）越多 脑损伤越严重， 频率更高的时候，较少引起。 本提案将使 我们来确定中枢神经系统病理学是如何通过唤醒/注意力差起作用的 在新生儿的调制，可以形成基板上，以后的行为 发展，并可以在不同的情况下表达有关更高的- 认知水平。 婴儿（n=288）分为8组 与脑损伤有关的研究将从出生到19个月， 月间隔。 我们设计了一些研究， 来自唤醒调制视觉识别记忆测量的信息， 皮质醇对不同应激源的反应性和迷走神经介导的控制 超过心率 我们预测唤醒操作会调节 响应跨措施，但这种程度的响应调制将 不同程度和类型的中枢神经系统损害的影响。 之前 到出院，以及在1个月和4个月时，视觉识别记忆 将以类似于视觉的方式与唤醒水平相互作用， 偏好任务，即偏好之间的差异大小 在不同的唤醒条件下的新奇将与CNS成正比 侮辱，唤醒的影响较小，年龄越大，婴儿越健康。 随着婴儿的成熟，将需要更多具有挑战性的任务， 区分脑损伤;例如，那些涉及感觉间 （视觉-视觉）整合可能成为更好的鉴别器。 我们 假设集中注意力，注意力分散， 易怒、目标导向行为和探索行为， 年龄将与早期注意力调节的缺乏相关。

This project continues to study premature and brain injured neonates, hypothesizing (a) that these risk conditions differentially reduce the ability to modulate arousal and attention processes, and (b) that the pattern of disruption in arousal/attention modulation predicts both degree of early brain injury and later percentual cognitive and motivational development. We have developed and refined a measure of neonatal behavior using the visual preference technique that shows systematic differences in preference functions with controlled manipulations of arousal due to changes in internal as well as external sources of stimulation. We have demonstrated that: (a) high-risk and preterm infants, as to normal term infants, show a general shift in looking preference with arousal manipulations; but that (b) the more severe the brain injury, the less the shift in looking preferences toward higher frequencies when less aroused. The present proposal will enable us to establish how CNS pathology, acting through poor arousal/attention modulation in the neonate, can form the substrate on which later behavior develops and can be expressed in diverse circumstances related to higher- level cognitive attainment. Infants (n=288) stratified into 8 groups related to brain injury will be studied from birth to 19 months at 3 month intervals. We have designed studies that will provide converging information from measures of arousal modulated visual recognition memory, cortisol reactivity to different stressors, and vagally mediated control over heart rate. We predict that arousal manipulations will modulate responding across measures, but that degree of response modulation will be differentially affected by degree and type of CNS compromise. Prior to hospital discharge, and at 1 and 4 months, visual recognition memory will interact with arousal level in a manner analogous to the visual preference task such that the magnitude of difference between preferences for novelty in different arousal conditions will be proportional to CNS insult, with arousal less influential the older and healthier the infant. As the infant matures, more challenging tasks will be needed to differentiate brain injury; for example, those involving intersensory (auditory-visual) integration may become better discriminators. We hypothesize that measures of focused attention, distractibility, irritability, goal-directed behavior, and exploratory behavior at later ages will correlate to lack of modulation of early attention.