Investigating the development of higher-level cognition from childhood to adolescence

儿童期和青春期的特点是认知能力的深刻变化，如推理、记忆、计划和认知控制。这些认知能力发展的重要性并不局限于儿童和青少年，而是延伸到成年期。例如，成年人生活质量的最佳预测指标之一是认知功能。随着儿童和青少年认知能力的成熟，大脑的结构和功能也发生了重大变化，各种生活方式因素也发生了相当大的变化。我的研究项目的目标是采用一种全面的方法来研究各种认知能力的发展，支持它们的大脑结构和功能机制，以及它们如何受到人口和生活方式因素的影响。我们将使用剑桥脑科学-儿科（CBS-P）平台，这是一个由12个测试组成的认知电池，以表征儿童和青少年（7至15岁）的认知发展。然而，我们不会孤立地研究认知发展；大脑和生活方式的变化对于理解各种认知系统的发展是至关重要的。因此，我们将使用神经影像学来研究不同认知能力的发展，在群体和个人水平上，是如何通过大脑功能和结构的变化来调节的。此外，我们将收集有关人口统计（年龄、性别、社会经济地位）和生活方式因素的信息，如运动、饮食、物质使用，特别是睡眠，以研究它们如何影响认知能力的发展，以及它们的影响是否从童年到青春期保持不变。这些项目的结果将为认知的各个方面的发展、与认知发展相关的潜在神经机制以及神经认知发展与生活方式因素之间的联系提供一个规范的模板。研究儿童和青少年时期认知的整体方法将作为确定儿童和青少年时期典型和非典型发展的基准。

The period between childhood and adolescence is characterized by profound changes to cognitive abilities, such as, reasoning, memory, planning and cognitive control. The importance of the development of these cognitive abilities is not limited to childhood and adolescence, but extends into adulthood. For instance, one of the best predictors of adult life quality is cognitive functioning. Coinciding with maturing cognitive abilities during childhood and adolescence are significant changes to the structure and function of the brain, as well as considerable changes to various lifestyle factors. The goal of my research program is to take a holistic approach to examining the development of various cognitive abilities, the structural and functional brain mechanisms that support them, and how they are influenced by demographic and lifestyle factors. We will use the Cambridge Brain Sciences-Pediatric (CBS-P) platform, a cognitive battery comprised of 12 tests to characterize the development of cognition in children and adolescents (between the ages of 7 and 15). However, we will not study cognitive development in isolation; changes to the brain and lifestyle factors are crucial for understanding how various cognitive systems develop. Therefore, we will use neuroimaging to examine how the development of different cognitive abilities, at both the group and individual level, are mediated by changes to the function and structure of the brain. Moreover, we will collect information about demographic (age, sex, socio-economic status) and lifestyle factors such as exercise, diet, substance use, and sleep in particular, to examine how they influence development of cognitive abilities and whether their influence remains constant from childhood to adolescence. The results of the proposed projects will provide a normative template for the development of various aspects of cognition, the underlying neural mechanisms associated with cognitive development, and the link between neurocognitive development lifestyle factors. The holistic approach to examining cognition during childhood and adolescence will serve as a benchmark for identifying typical and atypical development during childhood and adolescence.