Breaking Barriers to Better Understand Early Cognitive Development: Novel Task-Based fMRI Paradigms in Young Children

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The first few years of life are a foundational window for functional brain development, yet we know little about this maturation due to the challenges of conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in young individuals, particularly when they are asked to perform a task. Recent improvements in image acquisition combined with developmentally informed approaches and innovative paradigms have advanced the success of task-based functional MRI in toddlers and preschool-aged children to better understand cognition.
This symposium will bring together four different investigators across multiple cognitive domains and highlight innovations in fMRI paradigms and resulting findings.
The first talk presents task fMRI data from an innovative auditory memory paradigm in sleeping toddlers.
The second talk will present a novel, child-friendly mnemonic similarity task (using block design, short runs, passive viewing) to assess precision memory in 3- to 4-year-olds.
The third presentation leverages a sparse acquisition approach to examine speech production in preschool-aged children via a syllable repetition task (SRT) and speech perception via a word-picture matching task.
The final talk will present a novel number line estimation (NLE) fMRI task to assess spatial-mathematical abilities in 4- to 6-year-olds while minimizing in-scanner motion.
Together these studies elucidate the neural correlates of memory, speech and spatial-mathematical abilities early in life. Results from this work are important not only for our understanding of typical neuro-cognitive development, but also have implications for disorders that affect cognition as well.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Chairs

• Jade Dunstan, University of Maryland - College Park

• Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland - College Park

Individual Presentations

• Examining Reactivation of Hippocampal Representations in Sleeping Toddlers - Presenting Author: Alireza Kazemi, University of California - Davis; Lindsey Mooney, University of California - Davis; Simona Ghetti, University of California - Davis

• Exploring the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Pattern Separation in Preschool-Aged Children: an fMRI Paradigm - Presenting Author: Jade Dunstan, University of Maryland - College Park; Tracy Riggins, University of Maryland - College Park

• Task-Based fMRI Reveals Neural Mechanisms of Speech Production and Perception in Preschoolers - Presenting Author: Jennifer Vannest, University of Cincinnati; Thomas C. Maloney, University of Cincinnati; Julia Hoyda, University of Cincinnati; Darren S. Kadis, University of Cincinnati; Erin R. Sizemore, Mount St. Joseph University; Jonathan Preston, Syracuse University; Suzanne Boyce, University of Cincinnati

• Examining the Neural Correlates of Number Line Estimation in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children - Presenting Author: Lauren Aulet, Carnegie Mellon University; Jessica F. Cantlon, Carnegie Mellon University