Early Social Communication Environment and Brain Development in Infants at Risk for Autism

自闭症风险婴儿的早期社会沟通环境和大脑发育

• 批准号: 9325066
• 负责人: Meghan Rae Swanson
• 金额: $ 8.58万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-02 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9325066
• 关键词: Adult; Affect; Autistic Disorder; Award; Behavior; Behavioral; Birth; Brain; Brain imaging; Child; Communication; Computational algorithm; Data; Development; Diagnosis; Diagnostic; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Disease; Early Intervention; Environment; Equation; Feedback; Fiber; Gene Expression; Genetic Risk; Goals; Hippocampus (Brain); Home environment; Image; Image Analysis; Individual Differences; Infant; Infant Development; Influentials; Institutes; Instruction; Intervention; Language; Life; Literature; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Maps; Mental Health; Mentors; Mentorship; Modeling; Multimodal Imaging; Outcome; Parents; Pattern; Pattern Recognition; Phase; Population; Positioning Attribute; Predisposition; Production; Psychiatry; Research; Research Project Grants; Research Training; Risk; Rodent; Sampling; Schools; Siblings; Social Interaction; Speech; Structure; Symptoms; Techniques; Testing; Time; Training; Universities; autism spectrum disorder; base; behavioral outcome; brain behavior; career; career development; cognitive development; computer science; high risk; imaging study; infancy; insight; multidisciplinary; neural circuit; neurodevelopment; neuroimaging; novel; protective effect; skills; social; social communication; vocalization

PROJECT SUMMARY Career Goal: My long-term research goal is to identify features of the early social communication environment that are early intervention targets for infants that go on to have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The overall objective of this application, which is the next step toward attainment of my long-term goal, is to determine which aspects of the early social communication environment are protective factors for brain development and behavioral outcome. Research Project: Children with ASD who grow up in rich social communication environments show superior language abilities later in life when compared to children who grow up in less rich social communication environments; however, to date it is unknown if the social communication environment from birth to two years impacts brain development and behavioral outcome in infants at high-familial risk for ASD. Given that the first year of life is a time of great brain plasticity and before the emergence of the diagnostic features of ASD, determining early influential brain mechanisms and intervening during this time could yield ideal outcomes. The goal of the current project is to determine if a rich early social communicative environment supports optimal brain and behavioral development in infants at high-risk for ASD who do and do not go on to develop ASD. Additionally, an independent sample of infants will be studied to determine optimal periods for intervention by searching for time-dependent associations between the social communication environment and brain/behavior development. Specific Aims: 1) To define patterns of association between the early social communication environment with language and brain development in infants at low-risk for ASD. (K99); 2) To determine if the early communication environment is a protective factor for brain development and autism symptoms in infants at high-risk for ASD. (K99); 3) To identify the time window when the association between the social communication environment and infant brain development is the strongest. (R00). Career Development: This K99/R00 award will provide the necessary training I require before transitioning into an independent position including: mastering advanced diffusion tensor imaging analytic techniques, becoming proficient in structural magnetic resonance imaging, training in MRI acquisition of infant neuroimaging data, gaining skills in the application of novel computer algorithms to automatically characterize the social communication environment, and completing training in advanced statistical approaches to investigate environment-brain-behavior relationships. Mentorship: To support my training and career development a highly accomplished, multidisciplinary team has agreed to provide mentorship. My mentoring team includes a primary mentor, Dr. Joseph Piven (Dept. of Psychiatry, UNC), a secondary mentor, Dr. Martin Styner (Dept. of Computer Science, UNC), and two complimentary collaborators: Drs. James Rehg (School of Interacting Computing, Georgia Tech), and Jonathan Green (Institute of Brain, Behaviour, and Mental Health, University of Manchester).

项目摘要 职业目标：我的长期研究目标是确定早期社会交流环境的特征 对于继续患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的婴儿的早期干预靶标。总体 该应用程序的目标是实现我的长期目标的下一步，是确定 早期社会交流环境的哪些方面是大脑发育和 行为结果。研究项目：在丰富的社交交流中成长为ASD的儿童 与在不丰富的孩子相比，环境在以后的生活中表现出卓越的语言能力 社会交流环境；但是，迄今为止还不知道社会交流环境是否 从出生到两年 ASD。鉴于生命的第一年是大脑可塑性的时代，并且在出现之前 ASD的诊断特征，确定早期影响力的大脑机制和此时的干预 可以产生理想的结果。当前项目的目标是确定是否有丰富的早期社会交流 环境支持高危婴儿的最佳大脑和行为发展 不继续发展ASD。此外，将研究独立的婴儿样本以确定最佳 通过寻找社交交流之间的时间相关关联来进行干预时期 环境和大脑/行为发展。具体目的：1）定义关联模式 ASD低风险的婴儿的早期社会沟通环境与婴儿的语言和大脑发展。 （K99）; 2）确定早期交流环境是否是大脑发育的保护因素和 ASD高危婴儿的自闭症症状。 （K99）; 3）确定关联的时间窗口 在社会交流环境和婴儿大脑发展之间是最强的。 （R00）。职业 开发：该K99/R00奖将提供我需要的必要培训，然后过渡到 独立立场，包括：掌握高级扩散张量成像分析技术，成为 精通结构磁共振成像，婴儿神经影像数据的MRI获取训练， 在应用新型计算机算法的应用中获得技能，以自动表征社交 沟通环境，并完成高级统计方法的培训以调查 环境脑 - 行为关系。指导：支持我的培训和职业发展 高度成就，多学科团队已同意提供指导。我的指导团队包括 主要导师约瑟夫·皮文（Joseph Piven）博士（精神病学系，UNC），次要导师，马丁·斯特纳（Martin Styner）博士（ 计算机科学，UNC）和两个免费合作者：Drs。詹姆斯·雷（James Rehg）（互动学校 计算机，佐治亚理工学院）和乔纳森·格林（Jonathan Green）（大脑，行为和心理健康研究所，大学 曼彻斯特）。