Optical Imaging in Infants

描述（由申请人提供）：用数字上不同的物体来表示世界的能力是早期认知发展的一个里程碑，并为更复杂的思维和行为奠定了基础。如果不能发展这种能力，婴儿以后就有很大的发展困难的风险。最近的研究揭示了婴儿使用特征信息来区分物体的能力的重要发展变化。然而，人们对这些变化背后的神经机制知之甚少，这在很大程度上是因为可用于测量婴儿大脑功能的非侵入性技术数量有限。因此，有一个关键的需要，以确定新的方法来指定行为和大脑功能之间的关系，在对象处理。其中一种方法是近红外光谱（NIRS），这是一种光学成像技术，使用脑血容量的变化作为神经激活的指标。由于NIRS是安全和非侵入性的，可以在行为任务中使用，并提供有关神经激活的空间和时间信息，因此它是这类婴儿研究的理想选择。本申请中提出的研究将使用NIRS识别对象处理任务期间神经激活的变化。本申请的目的是识别婴儿（a）使用形状、大小、颜色和亮度信息来个性化物体和（B）从各种感知线索（例如，相干运动和轮廓）。核心假设是，婴儿使用形状、颜色和亮度差异来个性化物体的能力将与更高水平的物体处理区域中独特的、定义明确的神经激活模式相关联。此外，婴儿在连贯运动和连接轮廓的基础上感知物体形状的能力将与纹外皮层中独特的神经激活模式相关联。这一假设是基于我们实验室收集的行为和神经成像数据而提出的。这项研究的基本原理是，一旦我们确定了支持婴儿基于特征的物体表征和个性化的神经基质，就有可能制定一个专注于大脑行为关系的物体处理发展模型。公共卫生相关性：通过拟议的研究获得的信息可用于帮助指导诊断和干预技术的发展，这些技术可用于有物体处理困难风险的婴儿。早期发现物体处理困难，并进行适当的干预，可以预期显着降低的程度，后来出现的认知功能障碍，观察到在风险婴儿。这些研究所获得的信息也将为新的研究提供动力，这些研究将探讨特定医疗条件和早期经验差异对正常行为模式和大脑功能的影响程度。

Description (provided by applicant): The capacity to represent the world in terms of numerically distinct objects is a milestone in early cognitive development and forms the foundation for more complex thought and behavior. Failure to develop this capacity places infants at significant risk for later developmental difficulties. Recent research has revealed important developmental changes in infants' ability to use featural information to individuate objects. However, relatively little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie these changes, in large part because there are a limited number of non-invasive techniques available to measure brain function in infants. Hence, there is a critical need to identify new methods to specify the relation between behavior and brain function in object processing. One such method is near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), an optical imaging technique that uses changes in cerebral blood volume as an indicator of neural activation. Because NIRS is safe and non-invasive, can be used during behavioral tasks, and provides spatial and temporal information about neural activation, it is ideal for infant research of this kind. The research proposed in this application will use NIRS to identity changes in neural activation during object processing tasks. The objective of this application is to identify the neural basis of infants' ability to (a) use shape, size, color, and luminance information to individuate objects and (b) extract shape from a variety of perceptual cues (e.g., coherent motion and contour). The central hypothesis is that infants' capacity to individuate objects using shape, color, and luminance differences will be associated with unique, well-defined patterns of neural activation in higher level object processing areas. In addition, infants' capacity to perceive the shape of an object on the basis of coherent motion and connected contour will be associated with unique patterns of neural activation in extrastriate cortex. This hypothesis has been formulated on the basis of behavioral and neuroimaging data collected in our lab. The rationale for the proposed research is that once we have identified the neural substrates that support featurally-based object representation and individuation in the infant, it will be possible to formulate a developmental model of object processing that focuses on brain-behavior relations. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The information that will be gained by the proposed research can be used to help guide the development of diagnostic and intervention techniques that can be used with infants at risk for object processing difficulties. Early detection of object processing difficulties, and appropriate intervention, can be expected to significantly reduce the extent to which later emerging cognitive dysfunction is observed in at risk infants. The information gained by the proposed studies will also provide the impetus for new research that examines the extent to which normal patterns of behavior and brain function are affected by specific medical conditions and differences in early experience.