Optical Imaging in Infants

描述(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，并为更复杂的思想和行为奠定了基础。如果不能发展这一能力，婴儿日后出现发育困难的风险很大。最近的研究表明，婴儿使用特征信息对物体进行个性化的能力发生了重要的发展变化。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，迫切需要找到新的方法来确定物体加工中行为和大脑功能之间的关系。其中一种方法是近红外光谱(NIRS)，这是一种光学成像技术，使用脑血流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，因此它是此类婴儿研究的理想选择。这项申请中提出的研究将使用近红外光谱来识别物体处理任务过程中神经激活的变化。该应用程序的目的是确定婴儿(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，连贯的运动和轮廓)中提取形状的能力的神经基础。中心假设是，婴儿使用形状、颜色和亮度差异对物体进行个性化的能力将与较高水平物体加工区域中独特的、明确定义的神经激活模式相关联。此外，婴儿根据连贯的运动和连通的轮廓感知物体形状的能力，将与纹外皮质神经激活的独特模式有关。这一假说是基于我们实验室收集的行为和神经成像数据而形成的。这项研究的理论基础是，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底物，就有可能形成一个专注于大脑-行为关系的物体加工的发展模型。公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究将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。及早发现物体处理困难，并进行适当的干预，有望显著降低高危婴儿后来出现认知功能障碍的程度。拟议中的研究获得的信息也将为新的研究提供动力，该研究将检验正常的行为模式和大脑功能在多大程度上受到特定医疗条件和早期体验差异的影响。

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.