Sensory Gating Mediated by Attention

描述(申请人提供)：这个儿童感觉门控研究项目的长期目标是建立一个多变量模型，该模型将有助于阐明哪些因素有助于测量儿童稳定的感觉门控，并测试该模型，以确定其对儿童和成人的作用是否相似。该模型指出，感觉门控的测量方法可能因个人而异，因为结果代表了刺激呈现方案的交互作用，例如刺激强度、试验次数和任务指令，参与者的几个特征和状态变量包括但不限于前额皮质和执行功能的成熟(注意力)、α/尼古丁型乙酰胆碱受体基因(基因异常)和脑电(EEC)测试的压力水平(去甲肾上腺素能音调)。这项拟议的项目将有助于理解注意在这种感觉门控模型中的作用。该项目的三个具体目标是：1)确定注意的操纵是否会对成人和儿童的感觉门控产生不同的影响；2)证明注意的发展本质与儿童感觉门控水平的变化一致；3)确定儿童和成人感觉门控的分半信度和重测信度。这项研究设计需要在两次访问中评估40名6至12岁的年轻人和40名儿童。EEC数据将使用三种不同的感官门控事件相关电位(ERP)范式来收集，这些范式操纵着注意力的焦点。一个版本将使用两次，每次访问一次，以获得重测可靠性测量。为了调查儿童注意的成熟度及其与感觉门控表现变化的关系，将获得几种注意的行为测量。该项目与健康相关的影响是更好地了解在儿童中观察到的感觉门控措施的可变性。这些知识将导致对大脑控制感觉信息的能力和能力的更可靠和客观的衡量，这将使有效的早期识别神经发育障碍，如精神分裂症和自闭症。改进的感觉门控措施可能会导致评估治疗效果的生产性和成本效益研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goals of this program of research on sensory gating in children is based on building a multivariate model that will help elucidate which factors contribute to measuring stable sensory gating in children and testing the model to determine if it functions similarly for children and adults. The model states that measures of sensory gating may vary from individual to individual because the outcome represents an interaction of stimulus presentation protocols, such as stimulus intensity, number of trials, and task instructions, with several trait and state variables of the participant including but not limited to maturation of prefrontal cortex and executive function (attention), alpha/ nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene (gene abnormalities), and stress level at electroencephalography (EEC) testing (noradrenergic tone). The proposed project will contribute to understanding the role of attention in this model of sensory gating. The three specific aims of the project are: 1) To determine if the manipulation of attention will differentially effect sensory gating in adults and children; 2) To demonstrate that the developmental nature of attention coincides with changes in levels of sensory gating in children; and 3) To determine the split-half and test-retest reliability measures of sensory gating in children and adults. The research design entails assessing 40 young adults and 40 children, ages 6 to 12 years, during two visits. EEC data will be collected using 3 variations of the Sensory Gating event-related potential (ERP) paradigm which manipulate the focus of attention. One version will be used twice, once on each visit, in order to obtain test-retest reliability measures. To investigate maturation of attention in children and its relationship to changes in sensory gating performance, several behavioral measures of attention will be obtained. The health related impact of the project is a better understanding of the variability in sensory gating measures observed in children. Such knowledge will lead to more reliable and objective measures of the brain's ability and inability to gate sensory information which will allow valid early identification of neurodevelopmental disorders such as in schizophrenia and autism. Improved measures of sensory gating may lead to productive and cost efficient studies assessing treatment effectiveness.