INSPIRE: Neural and Genetic Factors Underlying Individual and Phylogenetic Variation in Communication

INSPIRE：沟通中个体和系统发育变异背后的神经和遗传因素

• 批准号: 1542848
• 负责人: Chet Sherwood
• 金额: $ 99.87万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1542848&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: INSPIRE; Neural; Genetic; Factors; Underlying

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Perception, Action, and Cognition Program and the Biological Anthropology Program in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, and the Office of Integrative Activities.Humans naturally learn to speak and use language. It is one of the defining features of our species. Understanding the biology of this extraordinary capacity is relevant to the fields of neuroscience, linguistics, genetics, psychology, and anthropology. Human speech and language involve intertwined processes, including the perception of signals (i.e., sounds, words, manual gestures, signs in sign language), the learning of phased movements of the mouth, tongue, and larynx to produce combinations of sound elements, as well as the higher-level cognitive aspects of word meaning, language structure, and the understanding of the discourse in which communication occurs. As each of these components may have separate neural and genetic bases, a focus on individual aspects of language helps dissect this complex socio-cognitive behavior. Studies of humans with speech and language disorders have provided insight into candidate genes (FOXP2 and KIAA0319) and brain structures implicated in different elements of language function. However, it is not yet understood the degree to which these genetic and neural building blocks of language are present and vary in nonhuman animals. This research project encompasses an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to investigate this question among humans' closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. A better understanding of these complex interactions will further our knowledge of the neurodevelopmental foundation of disorders affecting language in humans, such as autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and verbal dyspraxia.The project includes a multifaceted examination of individual differences in vocal learning, motor control, and sound-symbol learning in relation to genetic variation, neuroanatomical structure, and molecular expression in the brain. Chimpanzees show marked variation in orofacial motor control that allows some individuals, but not others, to flexibly learn novel vocalizations. To understand the neurobiological differences among chimpanzees related to vocal learning ability, this project will use several cutting-edge analytic approaches, combining detailed MRI brain imagery, sophisticated measurements of microanatomical structure and cellular composition (from an existing histological collection), and innovative computer science-based methods. In addition, genomic analyses will include FOXP2, a gene that plays a critical role in establishing the brain circuitry required for the development of language in humans. However, the function of FOXP2 in communication and orofacial motor control is essentially unknown in primates: this project will be the first to characterize variation in FOXP2 across chimpanzees and examine associations with individual differences in brain structure, gene expression, and vocal learning (behavioral tests that involve minimal encouragement of the chimpanzees and reinforcement with food rewards, without involving any anesthesia, pain, or distress). Another important dimension of human language is the ability to understand words and their meaning, in both the auditory and visual domains. In humans, the gene KIAA0319, which is involved in brain development and dyslexia, is thought to play a key role in this sound-symbol learning. This project will examine how variation in KIAA0319 underlies differences in brain organization and sound-symbol learning in chimpanzees (housed at the Yerkes National Primate Center and the MD Anderson Cancer Center). All DNA samples, MRI scans, and brain tissue to be used in the study has previously been acquired. The combination of these multiple techniques will result in unique data sets that will transform our ability to compare brain structures and behavioral abilities relevant to language and brain function in chimpanzees and humans.

该INSPIRE奖是由感知，行动和认知计划以及在社会，行为和经济科学局中行为和认知科学局中的生物人类学计划以及综合活动办公室的一部分资助的。人类自然学会说话和使用语言。它是我们物种的决定性特征之一。了解这种非凡能力的生物学与神经科学，语言学，遗传学，心理学和人类学领域有关。人类的言语和语言涉及交织的过程，包括对信号的感知（即声音，单词，手动姿势，手语中的表征），学习口腔，舌头和larynx的分阶段动作以产生声音元素的组合，以及更高级别的单词含义，语言结构的含义，语言结构的含义，并在语言结构上进行交流，并在语言结构中进行交流，并在语言上进行了交流。由于这些组成部分中的每一个都可能具有分开的神经和遗传基础，因此对语言各个方面的重点有助于剖析这种复杂的社会认知行为。对言语和语言障碍的人类的研究提供了对候选基因（FOXP2和KIAA0319）和涉及语言功能不同元素的大脑结构的见解。但是，尚不理解这些语言的这些遗传和神经构建块在非人类动物中存在的程度。该研究项目涵盖了一种创新和跨学科的方法，可以调查人类最亲近的亲戚黑猩猩的问题。对这些复杂互动的更好理解将进一步了解影响人类语言的疾病的神经发育基础，例如自闭症谱系障碍，迟发症和言语异常。该项目包括对与遗传变异，神经元素相关的声音学习，运动控制和声音符号学习的多方面检查，对声音学习，运动控制和声音符号的学习。黑猩猩表现出明显的口面运动控制变化，这使某些人（而不是其他人）可以灵活地学习新颖的发声。为了了解与声带学习能力相关的黑猩猩之间的神经生物学差异，该项目将使用几种尖端的分析方法，结合了详细的MRI脑图像，对微观解剖结构和细胞组成的复杂测量（来自现有的组织学收集）以及创新的计算机科学方法。此外，基因组分析将包括FOXP2，该基因在建立人类语言发展所需的脑电路中起着至关重要的作用。但是，FOXP2在通信和口面运动控制中的功能在灵长类动物中基本上是未知的：该项目将是第一个表征跨黑猩猩的FoxP2变化的一个，并检查与大脑结构，基因表达和声音学习中的个体差异的关联（行为测试（行为测试）（行为测试，涉及对黑猩猩和痛苦的最小程度地涉及食物的痛苦或不涉及任何痛苦，而无需涉及任何痛苦或涉及任何痛苦。人类语言的另一个重要方面是在听觉和视觉领域中理解单词及其含义的能力。在人类中，涉及大脑发育和阅读障碍的Gene Kiaa0319在这种声音符号学习中起着关键作用。该项目将研究KIAA0319的差异如何构成黑猩猩的大脑组织和声音符号学习的差异（位于Yerkes国家灵长类动物中心和MD Anderson癌症中心）。先前获取了所有在研究中使用的DNA样品，MRI扫描和脑组织。这些多种技术的结合将导致独特的数据集，这将改变我们比较与黑猩猩和人类中语言和大脑功能相关的大脑结构和行为能力的能力。