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Current Research -----
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General Information: Research in the CDN Lab explores the development and neurobiological correlates of cognitive development, particularly learning,
memory, and attention during the infancy through adolescence. Our
laboratory employs several approaches to studying brain-behavior
relations, including behavioral research and structural and
functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
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Equipment/Facilities: Our laboratory is equipped with a 128 channel EGI netstation and a SMI Eye
Tracking System. We also have shared used of a 3.0 Tesla Siemens research
scanner located at the Center for Magnetic Resonance
Imaging, which is equipped with IFIS stimulus presentation and
response collection devices for functional MRI studies.
Additionally, we also utilize
a MRI
simulator to acclimate children and
adults to the scanning environment; this simulator is equipped with an
integrated functional imaging system (IFIS) for stimulus display and response
recording.
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MRI simulator
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Current Research : Some of our ongoing projects are described below:
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Development and Neural Bases of Skill Learning
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This ongoing project addresses the development of
frontalstriatal circuits involved in implicit learning using variations of
the serial reaction time task with preschool, school-age children, and adults. Our
lab has employed behavioral, ERP, fMRI and eye movement measures of learning in
both healthy children and adults with this paradigm. We are
currently testing 4-year-old children, 8-year-old children, and
adults on variants of this paradigm and are moving toward testing
adults and children in the MRI scanner. |
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Emotions and Attention during
Adolescence |
| With this project we are looking at
how well teenagers and adults can pay attention while distracted by
emotional information. We are interested in if different age groups
of teenagers are more or less distracted by certain emotions and if
developmental changes in this area are related to parallel changes
in the brain. We have currently tested several groups of
participants between ages 11 and 25 on a behavioral task for this
study and have begun a MRI study to examine whether
teenagers' brains show different patterns of activity than adults when they are
distracted by emotional materials. |
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Facial Expressions of Emotion |
| We have begun to study
the perception and/or understanding of facial expressions of emotion
in childhood using a neuroimaging approach. This project
investigates developmental differences in the basic amygdala
response to various emotional stimuli, such as fearful or neutral
faces. We are also interested in what parts of the face both
children and adults use to identify emotional facial expressions.
We have recently finished testing 8-year-old children on a behavioral emotion
identification task and a set of MRI paradigms and are currently
conducting data analysis on this project. |
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Hippocampal and Striatal Memory Systems |
| In collaboration with colleagues at the Center for Neurobehavioral
Development, we are examining the effects of diabetic pregnancy on learning, memory and attention later in childhood. This project uses parallel ERP and fMRI studies of recognition memory and inhibitory control to investigate functioning of medial temporal lobe systems (hippocampus) and frontalstriatal systems (basal ganglia) in 9-year-old children. |
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Infant Attention and Learning |
| In this project we are exploring how
infants learn about the world during the first year of life.
Given that infants are faced with a massive amount of information in
their surroundings, we are interested in how infants are able to
identify what information is the most interesting or the most
important to learn about. With our infant studies we are
trying to understand how the development of attention might
contribute to infants' ability to learn and explore their world. We
are currently testing 7-month-old infants for this project on tasks
that examine attention, statistical learning, and responses to novel
information. |
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Neural Bases of Declarative Memory
Development |
| In this project we are interested in
exploring the behavioral and neural bases of declarative memory
development during childhood. We have recently finished testing
8-year-old and 12-year-old children on a behavioral paradigm that
required children to rapidly form relational memories based on
object pairs. We are currently completing a follow up study
investigating the neural bases of declarative memory development
using fMRI. |
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Impact of BDNF Genotype and Early
Adversity on Brain Development |
| With colleagues at the University of
Minnesota and at the Sackler Institute we are conducting a study
addressing learning, attention and brain development in
internationally adopted youth using behavioral, neuroimaging, and
genetic measures. Specifically, our research tests the hypothesis
that the Val66Met polymorphism of the BDNF gene will moderate the
impact of early institutional/orphanage rearing on the structural
and functional development of brain systems including the
hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex. |
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