Collaborative Research: The developmental course of cerebral lateralization for space and language

合作研究：大脑空间和语言偏侧化的发展过程

• 批准号: 2318608
• 负责人: Barbara Landau
• 金额: $ 51.15万
• 依托单位: Johns Hopkins University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2027-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318608&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; developmental; course; cerebral; Collaborative; Research; developmental; course; cerebral

One of the fundamental organizing principles of the brain is hemispheric specialization, where one side of the brain supports a specific behaviors cognitive process more than the other. Previous studies of adults have shown specialization for language processing in the left hemisphere and visual-spatial abilities in the right hemisphere. However, young children seem to use both sides of the brain more equally and do not show specific cognitive impairments after one-sided brain damage. This project uses behavioral testing and non-invasive functional brain imaging to investigate how behavior and the pattern of brain activation for language and visual-spatial abilities changes between ages 5 and 11 as hemispheric specialization emerges. Each participating child completes a range of language and visual-spatial tasks while their brain activity is measured, providing insight into how individual differences in brain activation relate to differences in language and spatial abilities, with implications for individual learning styles and educational programming. A key component of the project includes sharing the research with teachers of young children through targeted presentations emphasizing the scientific bases for our understanding of the brain’s two hemispheres and the exciting questions this project raises for understanding children's learning. In sum, the project can provide both the scientific and educational communities with a detailed understanding of the timetable for the development of hemispheric lateralization from early to middle-childhood, how changes during this developmental period affect children’s growing cognition, and why the specialization across the hemispheres in adults might be beneficial. Theories about the causes of brain lateralization have focused on different intrinsic processing biases between the hemispheres that make one hemisphere more efficient for carrying out certain kinds of computations than the other.  However, studies of the long-term outcomes of perinatal stroke suggest that in earliest life, both hemispheres of the young brain are equipotential and equally capable of developing language and/or spatial functions. Moreover, neuroimaging data show that typically developing children have more bilateral brain activation for tasks that evoke lateralized activation in adults. The research in this project tests the hypothesis that the typical developmental trajectory of lateralization begins with bilateral activation of both hemispheres in early childhood, with lateralization increasing over time and reaching mature lateralized patterns by late childhood. The researchers propose to use behavioral testing and fMRI brain neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine developmental trajectories in lateralization and performance. The relative timing of reaching this mature pattern may provide insights into the causes of this developmental pattern and help us better understand cognition in children, with deep implications for childhood education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

大脑的基本组织原理之一是半球专业化，其中大脑的一侧比另一侧更支持特定的认知过程。先前对成年人的研究表明，在左半球和右半球的视觉空间能力中进行语言处理的专业化。但是，年幼的孩子似乎更均匀地使用大脑的两侧，并且在单方面脑损伤后不会显示特定的认知障碍。该项目使用行为测试和非侵入性功能性脑成像来研究5至11岁之间的语言和视觉空间能力的大脑激活方式随着半球专业化的出现而发生变化。每个参与的孩子都完成了一系列语言和视觉空间任务，同时衡量了他们的大脑活动，从而深入了解了大脑激活中个体差异与语言和空间能力的差异如何相关，对个人学习风格和教育计划的影响。该项目的一个关键组成部分是通过针对性的演讲强调我们对大脑两个半球的理解以及该项目为理解儿童学习提出的令人兴奋的问题，与幼儿的教师分享研究。总而言之，该项目可以为科学和教育社区提供详细的理解，以了解从早期到中间人的半球侧向化的时间表，这种发育时期的变化如何影响儿童日益增长的认知，以及为什么成人半球的专业化可能是有益的。关于大脑侧向化原因的理论集中在半球之间的不同内在处理偏见上，这使得一个半球比另一个半球进行某些类型的计算效率更高。但是，对围产期中风的长期结局的研究表明，在早期，年轻大脑的两个半球都同样能够发展语言和/或空间功能。此外，神经影像学数据表明，通常发展儿童的双侧脑激活更大，以引起成人侧向激活的任务。该项目中的研究检验了以下假设：横向化的典型发育轨迹始于儿童早期两个半球的双边激活，随着时间的流逝，侧向化增加并在儿童后期达到成熟的横向模式。研究人员建议使用行为测试和fMRI脑神经影像学（功能磁共振成像）来检查横向化和性能中的发育轨迹。达到这种成熟模式的相对时机可以提供对这种发展模式的原因的见解，并帮助我们更好地了解儿童的认知，对儿童教育产生了深远的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来评估来获得的支持。