Individual variation, plasticity, and learning in human brain evolution

人类大脑进化中的个体差异、可塑性和学习

基本信息

批准号：
1941626
负责人：
Erin Hecht
金额：
$ 23.48万
依托单位：
Harvard University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-01-01 至 2020-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1941626&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Individual variation plasticity learning human

项目摘要

The human ability to create and use technology far surpasses that of any other species. How did our advanced technological skills evolve, and what can this evolutionary perspective tell us about the basis of modern human technological learning? A team of investigators from Georgia State University and Emory University will use a multidisciplinary approach, integrating expertise in neuroscience, informatics, anthropology, biomedical engineering, and educational psychology, to address three main questions: (1) What aspects of human brain connectivity show greatest variability across individuals? (2) Are these highly variable regions responsive to real-world technological skill training, and, if so, what are the factors mediating individual differences in response to this training? (3) Which aspects of the underlying brain networks are present in humans but not our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, and therefore implicated as a likely substrate for unique human abilities for technological learning? The findings will have the potential to reveal the functional significance of any unique features of human brain organization that may be related to the learning and transfer of complex technological skills, thereby expanding knowledge of ourselves and of the brain with implications for STEM education. The award is from the Integrated Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems program, with funding from the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports fundamental research that advances the research literature on STEM learning, and the SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA) program. The investigators hypothesize that the ability to learn complex technological skills evolved by means of adaptations to prefrontal-parietal-temporal association networks, and that the high individual variability of these regions is due to selection for increased plasticity and protracted development, allowing for a greater input of individual experience, social learning, and cultural context. The researchers will examine human brain morphology and connectivity before, during, and after two STEM learning experiences (tool making and computer programming) and relate the pre-post changes in the brain to differences in connectivity in humans and chimpanzees. The human brain map produced will also provide a normative foundation to support and stimulate research on other questions, such as neural predictors of individual variation in behavior or in disease states). Finally, the team will develop an open source analysis tool, voxel-based connectivity, that will help the field by closing a gap in current neuroimaging methodology.

人类创造和使用技术的能力远远超过了任何其他物种。我们先进的技术技能如何发展，这种进化论如何告诉我们现代人类技术学习的基础？佐治亚州立大学和埃默里大学的一个调查人员团队将采用多学科方法，将神经科学，信息学，人类学，生物医学工程和教育心理学方面的专业知识整合在一起，以解决三个主要问题：（1）人类脑连接的哪些方面在个人跨个人最大的变异性表现出最大的变异性？（2）这些高度可变的区域是否响应现实世界的技术技能培训，如果是的，则是介导对此培训的个体差异的因素是什么？（3）人类中存在的基础大脑网络的哪些方面，但不存在我们最亲密的亲戚，黑猩猩，因此被视为具有独特人类技术学习能力的底物？这些发现将有可能揭示人类脑组织的任何独特特征的功能意义，这些功能可能与复杂的技术技能的学习和转移有关，从而扩大对自己和大脑的知识，对STEM教育产生影响。该奖项来自理解神经和认知系统计划的综合策略，并获得了EHR核心研究（ECR）计划的资金，该计划支持基础研究，该研究可以推进有关STEM学习的研究文献，以及SBE多学科活动办公室（SMA）计划。研究人员假设学习复杂的技术技能的能力是通过适应前额叶 - 周期性关联网络发展而来的，并且这些区域的高个体可变性是由于选择增加了可塑性和散发性的发展，从而使个人经验，社交学习和文化背景更加注入。研究人员将在两种STEM学习经历（工具制作和计算机编程）之前，之中和之后检查人脑的形态和连通性，并将大脑的前变化与人类和黑猩猩的连通性差异联系起来。生产的人脑图还将为支持和刺激其他问题的研究提供规范基础，例如行为或疾病状态中个体变异的神经预测指标）。最后，团队将开发一个开源分析工具，基于体素的连接性，该工具将通过缩小当前神经影像学方法的差距来帮助该领域。