Multimodal Neurodevelopmental Studies of Cognitive Control and Arousal

描述（由申请人提供）：目前的提案是父母资助的延续，重点是描述青春期认知控制的神经基础。核心认知控制能力在青春期是可用的，但在成年期，其使用支持最佳决策的可靠性和灵活性仍在不断完善。这些不成熟似乎是一个仍在发育和脆弱的神经系统的结果，可能导致次优决策，导致风险增加，并容易出现主要的精神病理，包括情绪障碍和精神分裂症。越来越多的文献提供了令人信服的证据，证明青少年认知控制的特定大脑区域功能不成熟。重要的是，新出现的证据强烈表明，这些可能是大规模和高度专业化的神经网络功能整合不成熟的结果。到目前为止，由于单峰神经成像方法在空间和时间领域的限制，网络级功能和集成的研究受到了阻碍。我们建议使用多模态方法，其中平行研究使用fMRI来准确识别功能相关的神经区域，DTI来表征关键区域之间的白质结构连接，MEG来描述高时间分辨率的神经同步，这将使我们能够对特定神经网络潜在行为的出现有一个综合和全面的了解（目标1）。此外，决策方面的限制往往出现在情感环境中，这在青春期可能特别相关。因此，我们还想研究情感相关的生理唤醒对认知控制的影响（目的2）。最后，冒险行为不会在青春期结束时终止，会持续到大学时期。这表明关键的神经不成熟可能会持续到青年期，这一时期还有待探索。鉴于此，我们建议跟踪一部分从父母资助的参与者到年轻的成年期，并描述一个包含10年的认知控制轨迹（目标3）。总之，这些研究将提供系统级功能成熟及其脆弱性的综合观点，为青少年规范性异常行为的生物学基础和精神病理学的出现提供信息。这项建议的新颖之处在于它采用了多式联运、横断面和纵向的方法，其影响在了解发展性质的关键方面具有巨大的潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current proposal is a continuation from a parent grant focused on characterizing the neural basis of cognitive control through adolescence. Core cognitive control abilities are available during adolescence however there are continued refinements into adulthood in the reliability and flexibility of its use supporting optimal decision making. These immaturities appear to be the result of a still developing and vulnerable neural system that can lead to suboptimal decision making leading to increased risk taking, and susceptibility for the emergence of major psychopathology including mood disorders and schizophrenia. A growing literature has provided compelling evidence for immaturities in the function of specific brain regions underlying cognitive control in adolescence. Importantly, emerging evidence strongly indicates that these may be the result of immaturities in the functional integration of large-scale and highly specialized neural networks. Thus far, investigations of network-level function and integration have been hampered by limitations in spatial and temporal domains in unimodal neuroimaging approaches. We propose to use a multimodal approach where parallel studies using fMRI to accurately identify functionally relevant neural regions, DTI to characterize white matter structural connectivity between key regions, and MEG to delineate neural synchrony at high temporal resolution, will enable us to obtain an integrated and comprehensive understanding of the emergence of specific neural networks underlying behavior (Aim 1). In addition, limitations in decision making are often present in the context of emotional contexts, which may be especially relevant during adolescence. As such, we also want to investigate the effects of affect-related physiological arousal on cognitive control (Aim 2). Finally, risk taking behavior does not terminate at the end of adolescence, persisting through the college years. This suggests that key neural immaturities may continue into young adulthood, a period that is yet to be explored. In light of this, we propose to follow a subset of participants from the parent grant into young adulthood and characterize a trajectory of cognitive control that encompasses 10 years (Aim 3). Together, these studies will provide an integrated view of the maturation of systems level functioning and its vulnerabilities informing the biological bases of normative aberrant behavior in adolescence and the emergence of psychopathology. This proposal is novel in its multimodal, cross sectional and longitudinal approach, the implications of which has enormous potential for informing crucial aspects of the nature of development.