AGE-RELATED STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL NEURAL CHANGES ON COGNITIVE MEASURES

描述(申请人提供)：这是一个导师研究科学家发展奖(K01)的申请表。拟议项目的目标是为申请者提供所需的高级技能，以建立一个独立的认知老化研究计划，使用综合的多模式神经成像方法来理解与年龄相关的认知变化。申请人提出了一项综合培训计划，该计划将教学指导与现有研究人员相结合；正式的课程作业；参加哥伦比亚大学正在进行的研讨会；进行前瞻性研究并与个别顾问一起进行应用培训经验。具体的培训目标包括获得认知老化的神经生物学机制的高级知识和技能：衰老如何影响工作记忆认知测试的表现，以及记忆、处理速度和流动能力等认知指标。该培训计划将与NIA支持的一项正在进行的关于衰老过程中认知、学习和记忆的成像研究(5R01AG026158)协调执行，该研究的主要目标是探索当表现受到任务难度操纵挑战时，功能性网络招募的变化。这项研究没有讨论潜在的结构和静息血流模式如何影响年龄组的功能或认知差异。因此，我提议的这项研究将调查与年龄相关的灰质体积、静息脑血流和功能活动之间的相互关系。这项研究的目的将是评估静息血流和灰质体积是否是功能重组的独立或伴随预测因素，并确定这些指标的变化如何调节年龄和认知之间的关系。因此，拟议的项目目标将阐明与老龄化相关的神经生物学变化的多种测量之间的相互关系，并将成为申请者在老龄人口中进行多模式神经成像研究方面建立独立研究人员职业生涯的桥梁。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01). The goal of the proposed project is to provide the Applicant with the advanced skills needed to establish an independent program of research in cognitive aging using an integrative multi-modal neuroimaging approach to understanding age-related cognitive changes. The Applicant proposes a comprehensive training plan which combines didactic instruction with established researchers; formal coursework; participation in ongoing seminars at Columbia University; conduction of a prospective study and applied training experiences with individual advisors. Specific training goals include acquiring advanced knowledge and skill in the neurobiological mechanisms of cognitive aging: how aging impacts performance on cognitive tests of working memory and measures of cognition such as memory, processing speed and fluid ability. The training plan will be executed in coordination with an ongoing NIA-supported imaging study of cognition, learning and memory in aging (5R01AG026158) whose main goal is to explore changes in functional network recruitment when performance is challenged by task difficulty manipulation. This study does not address how underlying structural and resting blood flow patterns influence age-group functional or cognitive differences. Consequently, the study I am proposing will investigate the interrelations between age-related gray matter volume, resting cerebral blood flow, and functional activity. The goal of this study will be to assess whether resting blood flow and gray matter volume are independent or concomitant predictors of functional reorganization and to determine how changes in these measures mediate the relationship between age and cognition. The proposed project aims will therefore elucidate the interrelationships between multiple measures of neurobiological changes associated with aging and will serve as a bridge for the Applicant to establish an independent investigator career in conducting multi-modal neuroimaging studies in aging populations.