* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download ABC Studentships
Human brain wikipedia , lookup
Aging brain wikipedia , lookup
Recurrent neural network wikipedia , lookup
Lateralization of brain function wikipedia , lookup
Holonomic brain theory wikipedia , lookup
Executive dysfunction wikipedia , lookup
Neuroplasticity wikipedia , lookup
Brain morphometry wikipedia , lookup
Binding problem wikipedia , lookup
Nervous system network models wikipedia , lookup
Neuroinformatics wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive neuroscience wikipedia , lookup
Development of the nervous system wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive neuroscience of music wikipedia , lookup
Neurophilosophy wikipedia , lookup
Neuropsychology wikipedia , lookup
Embodied language processing wikipedia , lookup
Clinical neurochemistry wikipedia , lookup
Neural engineering wikipedia , lookup
Neuropsychopharmacology wikipedia , lookup
Neurolinguistics wikipedia , lookup
History of neuroimaging wikipedia , lookup
Time perception wikipedia , lookup
Neurogenomics wikipedia , lookup
Externalizing disorders wikipedia , lookup
Neuroesthetics wikipedia , lookup
Magnetoencephalography wikipedia , lookup
Asperger syndrome wikipedia , lookup
Autism spectrum wikipedia , lookup
Neural binding wikipedia , lookup
ABC Studentships Investigating the relationships between orthographic, phonological and semantic processing in children's reading development and dysfunction: from neuropsychology to neuroimaging. Supervisory team: Joel B. Talcott, Kim Rochelle Becoming an expert reader requires the development of competencies in phonological, orthographic and semantic analysis skills. Our recent work with children in mainstream primary schools has suggested that the lack of age-appropriate ability in either orthographic or phonological skills can be a risk factor for impaired reading development. However, impairments in reading component skills may be linked to different developmental trajectories. Children with deficits in orthographic skills, but age-appropriate phonological skills may simply be delayed in their acquisition of sight word vocabulary and may eventually 'catch-up' with their peers in reading skills if they are provided with appropriate tuition. In contrast, selectively impaired phonological skills experienced by some children might be characterised by an atypical developmental trajectory in language skills that may not be remediated with either maturation or normal exposure to age-appropriate instructional materials. This project will investigate further these putative relationships between orthographic, phonological and semantic processes, focusing on assessment of children's literacy development both in normal classrooms and in children referred to the Aston Development and Assessment Clinic for assessment of specific learning disabilities. The student will work with our research team toward the following project aims: 1) to better understand the developmental trajectories of orthographic, phonological and semantic skills in children's reading development and dysfunction through the examination of archival longitudinal data; 2) to develop and refine additional tests of these skills for use in assessment of paediatric samples in different age groups; 3) to better understand the neural implementation of orthographic, phonological and semantic processing skills, focusing on their interaction during children's reading development through the use of paediatric MEG. Neural and behavioural correlates of Developmental coordination disorder. Principal Investigators: Kim Rochelle & Ngoc Jade Thai Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent motor coordination disorder affecting approximately 5% to 6% of school-age children with evidence that it may persistent into adolescent and adulthood. The aetiology of developmental coordination disorder is unclear, current knowledge is that the disorder often coexists with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), speech/language impairment, and/or reading disability. A need exists for a much clearer focus on DCD in child psychiatry and in child neurology research. The co morbidity of DCD with ADHD is highly suggestive of cerebellar dysfunction. However the heterogeneity of this disorder means the cerebellum is unlikely to be the only neural correlate. Combined neuroimaging and behavioural studies of learning-related change in motor behaviour will therefore be crucial in furthering our understanding of DCD in addition to disentangling its co morbidity with ADHD. The aim of the project will be to explore with behavioural testing and structural neuroimaging techniques to validate clinical subtypes of DCD and ADHD in a clinical population against aged match and younger controls. Induced Gamma and Beta Oscillations: a window onto Visual Development. Principal Investigators: Dr Ian Holliday and Prof. Gina Rippon There is extensive evidence of developmental trajectories in the visual system, continuing perhaps even as late as the mid-teenage years, with some potential for plasticity being retained in adulthood. Much groundwork needs to be done to establish the developmental trajectories of cortical oscillations in normal children and young adults, and this will be the focus of the proposed studentship. The studentship proposal utilises Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) techniques to establish normative ranges for gamma and beta responses in visual paradigms in three cohorts of children 5-8, 9-12, 13-16 as a basis for future studies of paediatric cohorts from groups, such as children with autism spectrum disorders. We have well-established MEG protocols for examining visual gamma and beta sources that can be adapted to paediatric use that would enable us to advance this research boundary rapidly. The studentship would involve psychophysical assessment or visual task performance alongside the MEG investigation, permitting a detailed correspondence to be made between behavioural and neurophysiological measures . The studentship work would directly feed into MEG studies in patient groups in which visual processing is disturbed in development, such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder and dyslexia. Development of MEG based metrics to investigate language development in normally developing and developmental disorders. Principle Investigators: Ngoc Jade Thai, Cristina Romani, Stefano Seri. Non-invasive neuroimaging techniques have become key research tools for evaluating brain function and developmental trajectories in children. Language acquisition is a crucial part of cognitive development. Language deficit can often be one of the earliest indicators of neurological impairment and the first sign of a developmental delay. Previous neuroimaging studies have found that the neural substrates supporting language in typically developing children change in structure and function across development. We propose to investigate the neural foundations of core neuropsychological functions supporting language maturation in typically developing children with particular focus on phonology, prosody, and word segmentation. The main focus will be to address to what degree is typical left hemisphere lateralization of language due to pre-existing functional asymmetries rather than development of language skills. This will involve developing a battery paediatric compatible language tasks designed to investigate the sentential and lexical language skills in early and later in childhood, which can be applicable to neuroimaging studies using MEG. We also propose to evaluate connectivity patterns between activated regions using linear methods. The acquisition of normative data across the developmental period will allow disentangling developmental patterns in brain activation from changes due to developmental or acquired abnormalities and form the bases for the use of MEG based measures for clinical purposes. Explorations of motor and balance skills in children with developmental disorders. Principal investigator: Kim Rochelle Background: Developmental Dyslexia, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), and Attentiondeficit Hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder are among the most commonly diagnosed disabilities of development in the UK, representing a significant problem for education and social health [1]. The core phenotypes of these disorders are underspecified. Compounding this difficulty is the high overlap between these conditions [2,3,4]. This co-occurrence might be explained in two complementary ways: 1) true overlap between developmental disorders with different aetiologies; 2) by mechanisms shared in common at a neurophysiological level. Difficulties in postural stability have been suggested as an prospective indicator of dyslexia risk [5, 6] but similar deficits are also prevalent within the ADHD and DCD populations [3,4,7]. Aims and objectives: The main aim of this project is to develop sensitive and valid measures of balance for predicting, identifying and potentially discriminating between different developmental disorders. Balance and posture assessment already forms part of the statutory national curriculum framework, but methods usually used in schools lack adequate sensitivity and objectivity. Design: Quasi-experimental, independent groups (disability versus control groups). Unselected samples of adults and children from the dyslexia and normal reading populations. Background publications are provided in [8,9]. 1] American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edn., text revision). Washington, DC: Author. [2] Willcutt, E. G., Pennington, B. F., Olson, R. K., Chhabildas, N., & Hulslander, J. (2005). Neuropsychological analyses of comorbidity of reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: In search of the common deficit. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27, 35-78. [3] Kaplan, B. J., Dewey, D., Crawford, S. G., & Wilson, B. N. (2001). The term comorbidity may be of questionable value in reference to developmental disorders: Data and theory. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 555-565. [4] Piek, J. P., Pitcher, T. M., & Hay, D.A. (1999). Motor coordination and kinaesthesis in boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 41, 159-165. [5] Fawcett, A. J., Nicolson, R. I., & Dean, P. (1996). Impaired performance of children with dyslexia on a range of cerebellar tasks. Annals of Dyslexia, 46, 259-283. [6] Moe-Nilssen, R., Helbostad, J. L., Talcott, J. B., & Toennessen, F. E. (2003). Balance and gait in children with dyslexia. Experimental Brain Research, 150, 237-244. [7] Diamond, A. (2000). Close interrelation of motor development and cognitive development and of the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. Child Development, 71, 44-56. [8] Rochelle, K.S.H., Witton, C. & Talcott, J.B. (2008). Symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention can mediate deficits of postural stability in developmental dyslexia. Experimental Brain Research, 192, 627-633. [9] Rochelle, K.S.H. & Talcott, J. (2006). Impaired balance in developmental dyslexia: a meta-analysis of the contending evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 77, 1159-1166 Neural and behavioural correlates of Developmental coordination disorder. Principal Investigators: Kim Rochelle & Ngoc Jade Thai Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a prevalent motor coordination disorder affecting approximately 5% to 6% of school-age children with evidence that it may persistent into adolescent and adulthood. The aetiology of developmental coordination disorder is unclear, current knowledge is that the disorder often coexists with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), speech/language impairment, and/or reading disability. A need exists for a much clearer focus on DCD in child psychiatry and in child neurology research. The co morbidity of DCD with ADHD is highly suggestive of cerebellar dysfunction. However the heterogeneity of this disorder means the cerebellum is unlikely to be the only neural correlate. Combined neuroimaging and behavioural studies of learning-related change in motor behaviour will therefore be crucial in furthering our understanding of DCD in addition to disentangling its co morbidity with ADHD. The aim of the project will be to explore with behavioural testing and structural neuroimaging techniques to validate clinical subtypes of DCD and ADHD in a clinical population against aged match and younger controls. Investigating dynamic changes in neuronal network function in epilepsy. Principal Investigators: Stephen D. Hall, Stefano Seri, Ngoc Jade Thai and Gavin L. Woodhall A seizure can be described as abnormally synchronized activity in a large population of brain cells, which causes a disruption in brain function. It is apparent that the disorder is progressive, and seizures themselves have effects on the structure and function of the brain that predispose it towards further seizures. The understanding of individual neuronal and network behaviour in epilepsy has greatly improved over the last two decades. However, we are still particularly reliant upon animal models, and mechanistic data at the synaptic and neuronal levels (e.g. rat model) are difficult to reconcile with studies at the human network level (e.g. EEG/MEG). Here, we will adopt an integrative approach to study the electrophysiological mechanisms of seizure initiation and epileptogenesis. We will compare post-surgical in vitro electrode recordings of resected brain tissue with pre- and postoperative in vivo MEG ‘virtual electrode’ and ECoG recordings in paediatric patients undergoing surgery for refractory epilepsy. This will provide the first characterisation of in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological activity in human brain tissue, which can be used to explore disease mechanisms. In order to elucidate the mechanisms by which seizure initiation and epileptogenesis occur, it is essential that the electrophysiological data recorded at the in vitro and in vivo levels can be adequately compared. This project will focus on the development and implementation of analytical tools that can effectively characterise electrophysiological phenomena in epileptic tissue observed using multiple modalities. Small World, Big Picture: can graph analysis help explain visual feature binding in Autism? Background: If, as has been claimed, Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterised by anomalous temporal binding[1], then they should show abnormal functional connectivity during tasks requiring visual feature binding(VFB). VFB, when viewing illusory figures such as Mooney faces, has been shown to be associated with changes in both local gamma activity[2] and functional connectivity[3] but as both can be seen in the absence of VFB, neither can be considered to be neural correlates of the process. Perhaps then, the critical feature is not the presence or absence of functional connectivity but the pattern, or topology, of the connections that exist[4]. However, although some evidence supports this position[5], the approach has been severely restrained by computational limitations. Fortunately, developments from graph theory (e.g. Small World Networks[6]) that can be interpreted as measures of local and global efficiency[7] can overcome many of these limitations and some have already been applied to EEG/MEG[8]. Despite successes in revealing differences between healthy and clinical populations (e.g. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Schizophrenia and closed head injury), however, this approach has not been applied to ASD and has been studied in the resting state almost exclusively. The aim of this project is to indentify appropriate experimental protocols and analysis techniques that can be used to characterise anomalies in the topology of connectivity seen in ASD. Hypothesis: Perception of images requiring VFB will be associated with a more ‘small world’ pattern of connectivity than comparable images not requiring VFB in controls. Individuals with ASD will show a topology of connectivity with local efficiency comparable to controls but with relatively impaired global efficiency. Method: EEG/MEG will be collected from ASD participants and matched controls during rest and appropriate experimental conditions that involve visual feature binding. Functional connectivity will be measured using two methods that eliminate volume conduction (Phase Locking Index[9] and Imaginary Coherence[10]) and graph theory measures of ‘Small Worldness’ (Global and Local efficiency) will be calculated from the resulting matrices and compared between conditions using Partial Least Squares Analysis[11] Expected Outcomes: This will be a significant test of an important theoretical perspective on the dynamic organisation of the brain in ASD and will also permit a comparison of two important measures of functional connectivity. References: 1. Brock, J., et al., The temporal binding deficit hypothesis of autism. Dev Psychopathol, 2002. 14(2): p. 209-24. 2. Tallon-Baudry, C., et al., Stimulus specificity of phase-locked and non-phase-locked 40 Hz visual responses in human. J Neurosci, 1996. 16(13): p. 4240-9. 3. Rodriguez, E., et al., Perception's shadow: long-distance synchronization of human brain activity. Nature, 1999. 397(6718): p. 430-3. 4. Tononi, G. and G.M. Edelman, Consciousness and complexity. Science, 1998. 282(5395): p. 1846-51. 5. Burgess, A.P., J. Rehman, and J.D. Williams, Changes in neural complexity during the perception of 3D images using random dot stereograms. Int J Psychophysiol, 2003. 48(1): p. 35-42. 6. Watts, D.J. and S.H. Strogatz, Collective dynamics of 'small-world' networks. Nature, 1998. 393(6684): p. 440-2. 7. Latora, V. and M. Marchiori, Efficient behavior of small-world networks. Phys Rev Lett, 2001. 87(19): p. 198701. 8. Reijneveld, J.C., et al., The application of graph theoretical analysis to complex networks in the brain. Clin Neurophysiol, 2007. 118(11): p. 2317-31. 9. Stam, C.J., G. Nolte, and A. Daffertshofer, Phase lag index: assessment of functional connectivity from multi channel EEG and MEG with diminished bias from common sources. Hum Brain Mapp, 2007. 28(11): p. 1178-93. 10. Nolte, G., et al., Identifying true brain interaction from EEG data using the imaginary part of coherency. Clin Neurophysiol, 2004. 115(10): p. 2292-307. 11. Lobaugh, N.J., R. West, and A.R. McIntosh, Spatiotemporal analysis of experimental differences in event-related potential data with partial least squares. Psychophysiology, 2001. 38(3): p. 517-30. Neural correlates of configural and part-based object processing in adolescence Principal Investigators: Dr Luc Boutsen and Dr Martin Jüttner The ability to visually recognize objects requires substantial time to develop. Such maturation effects have been predominantly investigated in and most clearly demonstrated for face perception. Considerably less certain is the developmental trajectory for the recognition of non-face objects. We have recently demonstrated a developmental dissociation between the trajectories of part-based and configural object recognition (e.g., Jüttner et al., 2009). In these experiments, children aged 6-16 years were asked to judge the correct appearance of familiar animals and artifacts that had been manipulated either in terms of individual parts or their part relations. We found that for part changes (part-based judgments) recognition performance even in the youngest children (aged 7-8 years) matched that of adults closely. By contrast, recognition of altered part relations (configural judgments) showed a distinctly protracted development and reached adult levels of performance only at an age of 11-12 years. The aim of this project is to investigate, through a series of EEG studies, the neural basis of this dissociation in perceptual object processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and frequency analyses. In particular, we want to use this technique to assess the development of the modulation of visual ERPs (N170 and P100) and evoked gamma-band power by part-based and configuration-based perceptual processing. Both visual ERP components (Boutsen et al., 2006) and gamma-band activity (e.g., Werkle-Bergner et al., 2009) have been implicated in visual processing and may develop over time. By comparing these neural correlates between the age groups that represent the critical time window during which visual configural processing develops, i.e., 8-10 and 12-14 years, this project contributes to the study of the neural locus of developmental processes in object recognition. References Boutsen, L., Humphreys, G. W., Praamstra, P., & Warbrick, T. (2006). Comparing configural processing in faces and objects: an event-related potentials study. NeuroImage 32, 352367. Jüttner, M., Petters, D., Wakui, E. & Davidoff J. (2009). The development of part-based and configural object recognition in adolescence. Perception 38, Supplement 165. Werkle-Bergner, M., Shing, Y. L., Müller, V., Li, S., Lindenberger, U. (2009). EEG gammaband synchronization in visual coding from childhood to old age: Evidence from evoked power and inter-trial phase locking. Clinical Neurophysiology 120, 1291-1302.