Development of language-related neural networks using multimodal imaging

使用多模态成像开发语言相关神经网络

• 批准号: 2323360
• 负责人: Sara Sanchez-Alonso
• 金额: $ 74.7万
• 依托单位: Yale 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: 2023-04-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; language; related; neural; networks

One of the enduring questions of developmental neuroscience is how the functional organization of the brain changes with maturation and experience. The present proposal focuses on a key behavioral skill acquired by nearly all children in their first few postnatal years – the ability to understand and speak their native language. The neural basis of language acquisition will be studied with a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that will allow researchers to understand changes in the brain during language learning. Such data in children has been very difficult to collect with other brain imaging techniques, because those techniques create loud noises that interfere with spoken language stimuli and require severe constraints on body and head movement - features that are especially challenging for children. In conjunction with others, the investigators in this project have developed a “child-friendly” neuroimaging approach that will make it possible to study brain signals in widespread neural networks in the brain during language acquisition in infants and young children. This will provide a new window into neural dynamics, and brain plasticity and reorganization during the early years of natural language development as children learn to speak, read and write. This research will have profound implications for social, cognitive and educational outcomes of early development. The researchers will use a relatively new approach to brain imaging called fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) and validate the technique with a more established brain imaging technique - fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). This combination of fMRI and fNIRS is crucial to achieve the best possible interpretation of brain signals across a wide age range (from 6 months to 7 years) as language-related networks develop. After enhanced characterization and validation of fNIRS signals, the researchers will then obtain repeated longitudinal measures of individual infants during a period of rapid language development using fNIRS alone. Children will be presented with engaging, naturalistic movies with linguistic content that is systematically varied to study how the language areas and networks of the brain are activated across development. Measurements of language development using parental report and in-home audio recordings will be conducted in parallel with the brain imaging measures. The overall goal is to provide a detailed characterization of the language-related brain networks that support language comprehension as infants/toddlers/children acquire their native language. In addition, this project will generate a useful public dataset and a critical test of the utility/reliability of fNIRS as a more child-friendly neuroimaging technique, thereby making possible the use of fNIRS in the future as a readily accessible and cost-effective tool for future pediatric studies of brain development.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.

发展神经科学的一个持久问题是大脑的功能组织如何随着成熟和经验而变化，目前的提案重点关注几乎所有儿童在出生后最初几年获得的一项关键行为技能——理解和表达自己的能力。语言习得的神经基础将通过非侵入性神经成像技术进行研究，这将使研究人员能够了解语言学习过程中大脑的变化，因为使用其他大脑成像技术很难收集这些数据。这些技术会产生巨大的噪音，干扰口语刺激并且需要对身体和头部运动进行严格限制——这对儿童来说尤其具有挑战性。该项目的研究人员与其他人一起开发了一种“儿童友好”的神经成像方法，这将使研究广泛神经中的大脑信号成为可能。这项研究将为婴儿和幼儿语言习得过程中大脑中的网络提供一个新的窗口，以了解儿童学习说话、阅读和写作过程中自然语言发展的早期神经动力学和大脑可塑性和重组。对早期发展的社会、认知和教育结果具有广泛的影响。研究人员将使用一种相对较新的脑成像方法，称为 fNIRS（功能性近红外光谱），并使用更成熟的脑成像技术 - fMRI（功能性磁共振成像）来验证该技术，fMRI 和 fNIRS 的结合对于实现这一目标至关重要。随着语言相关网络的发展，对广泛年龄范围（从 6 个月到 7 岁）的大脑信号进行最佳解释。在增强 fNIRS 信号的表征和验证后，研究人员将获得一段时期内单个婴儿的重复纵向测量。快速的儿童将观看具有系统变化的语言内容的引人入胜的自然主义电影，以研究大脑的语言和网络在发展过程中如何被激活。将与大脑成像测量同时进行，总体目标是提供与语言相关的大脑网络的详细特征，以支持婴儿/幼儿/儿童习得母语时的语言理解。有用的公共数据集和关键测试fNIRS 作为一种对儿童更友好的神经影像技术的实用性/可靠性，从而使未来能够将 fNIRS 作为一种易于获取且具有成本效益的工具用于未来儿科大脑发育研究。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并具有通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。