Prefrontal Brain Structures, Aging, and Decision-Making

描述(由申请人提供)：此修订的指导式研究科学家发展(K01)申请是一项资金申请，以支持Natalie Denburg博士成为衰老、认知和结构成像方面的独立研究员所需的培训和研究。申请者正在寻求神经成像方面的额外培训和教育，爱荷华大学是进行此类培训的绝佳场所。登伯格博士的长期研究目标是建立一个独立的研究计划，从心理过程和神经基础两个角度研究衰老认知。 这项研究旨在调查一种假设，即一些看似正常的老年人(即没有明显的神经或精神疾病)由于包括腹内侧前额叶皮质(VMPC)的神经系统功能障碍而在推理和决策方面存在缺陷。这一假说解决了为什么这么多老年人成为欺诈的牺牲品的问题，并与对老龄化的全面研究有关。来自训练PI的实验室的试验数据表明，相当数量的正常老年人在实验室任务(赌博任务；GT)中对VMPC后天性损害的推理和决策缺陷敏感。为了验证这一假设，将对120名年龄在26-85岁之间的成年人进行研究，他们都没有神经和精神疾病。将针对行为、心理生理和神经解剖学水平追求三个具体目标：(1)相当大比例的老年人将在GT上受损。对参与者的病史(例如心血管疾病的证据)、神经心理特征(例如执行功能障碍)和现实世界的决策能力(例如对欺骗性广告主张的误解)的评估将允许检查这些因素解释GT缺陷或与GT缺陷相关的程度。在GT上有决策缺陷的老年人将表现出(2)心理生理反应缺陷，特别是在对dsky决策的预期中，以及(3)VMPC不成比例的结构变化。还将研究用于决策的替代假设神经底物(例如，内侧颞叶)。除了影响有关广告的法律和社会政策外，这些发现还可能为干预提供参考。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised Mentored Research Scientist Development (K01) application is a request for funding to support the training and research necessary for Natalie Denburg, Ph.D. to become an independent investigator in aging, cognition, and structural imaging. The applicant is seeking additional training and education in neuroimaging, in particular, and the University of Iowa is a superb place to carry out such training. Dr. Denburg's long-term research objective is to have an independent program of research aimed at the study of aging cognition from the perspectives of both psychological processes and neural substrates. The study aims at investigating the hypothesis that some seemingly normal older persons (i.e., without overt neurological or psychiatric disease) have deficits in reasoning and decision-making, due to dysfunction in a neural system which includes the ventromedial prefrontal cortices (VMPC). This hypothesis addresses the question of why so many older adults fall prey to fraud, and is relevant to the comprehensive study of aging. Pilot data from the laboratory where the PI has been trained have suggested that a sizeable number of normal older adults are impaired on a laboratory task (the Gambling Task; GT) sensitive to reasoning and decision-making defects in patients with acquired damage to the VMPC. To test this hypothesis, 120 adults aged 26-85, all free of neurological and psychiatric disease, will be studied. Three specific objectives will be pursued aimed at behavioral, psychophysiological, and neuroanatomical levels: (1) A significant proportion of older adults will be impaired on the GT. Evaluation of the participants' medical histories (e.g., evidence of cardiovascular disease), neuropsychological profiles (e.g., executive dysfunction), and real-world decisionmaking abilities (e.g., miscomprehension of deceptive advertising claims), will allow for an examination of the extent to which these factors can account for, or correlate with, the GT defect. Older adults with decisionmaking defects on the GT will manifest (2) defective psychophysiological responses, particularly in anticipation of dsky decisions, and (3) disproportionate structural changes in VMPC. Alternative hypothesized neural substrates for decision-making (e.g., medial temporal lobe) will also be examined. The findings may inform intervention, in addition to influencing legal and social policy regarding advertising.