Cognitive flexibility across development: new insights from advanced imaging technologies

该项目的总体目标是使用新开发的光学成像方法来非侵入性地评估婴儿早期和典型发育途径中认知灵活性的神经决定因素。认知灵活性是在早期发展过程中出现的一种结构，已知对人类的繁荣至关重要。然而，我们对这种能力在生命早期的认知或神经基础知之甚少。这在很大程度上是因为目前研究婴儿期神经处理和认知功能的方法存在局限性。该项目将跨越婴儿认知神经科学和新的光学成像方法（高密度扩散最佳断层扫描- HD-DOT）的发展，以非侵入性方式评估认知灵活性的神经基础。该项目还将研究早期生活中的认知灵活性如何预测后续会议的后期认知功能，以及不同年龄组的横断面。有四个关键目标：目标1：对婴儿期认知灵活性的神经决定因素进行索引。目标2：评估预测认知灵活性的前因（社会经济地位、父母健康/饮食、婴儿睡眠质量、社会依恋）。目标3：确定早期认知灵活性表现是否与后期随访时的认知能力相关。目标4：比较从早期开始的不同年龄段的认知灵活性。

The overall aim of the project is to use newly developed optical imaging methods to non-invasively assess the neural determinants of cognitive flexibility in early infancy and across the typical developmental pathway. Cognitive flexibility is a construct that emerges during early development and is known to be important for human flourishing. However, we know little about the cognitive or neural basis of this ability in early life. This is largely because of limitations in currently available methods to study neural processing and cognitive function in infancy. This project will bridge across infant cognitive neuroscience and the development of new optical imaging methods (high density diffuse optimal tomography - HD-DOT) to assess the neural underpinnings of cognitive flexibility non-invasively. The project will also investigate how cognitive flexibility in early life predicts later cognitive function at follow-up sessions, and also cross-sectionally across different age groups. There are four key objectives: Objective 1: Index the neural determinants of cognitive flexibility in infancy.Objective 2: Assessment of antecedents (socioeconomic status, parental health/diet, infant sleep quality, social attachment) that predict cognitive flexibility.Objective 3: Determine whether early cognitive flexibility performance correlates with cognitive abilities at later follow-up sessions.Objective 4: Compare cognitive flexibility across different age ranges from early life onwards.