Walter Schneider - US grants

This award provides funds for the establishment of a Research Training Group in Neural Processing in Cognition. The faculty group is a mixture of outstanding senior and junior investigators who come from disciplinary backgrounds as diverse as mathematics, neural science and human behavior, but who share a common interest in the use of mathematics and other analytic tools in the study of relation between neural science and cognition. The research programs in which trainees will participate cross the boundaries of neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, psychology, biophysics and mathematics. The funds will provide stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, will support research participation by undergraduate students, will defray part of the cost of the trainees' research and will enable the trainees to attend scientific meetings. In addition, funds will be used to purchase specialized research equipment to be used by trainees, and to bring visiting faculty from other research and academic institutions for seminars and workshops. The challenge of relating structural and functional information about the nervous system to behavior is, at once, one of the most exciting and challenging problems of modern science. In recent years, the development of a variety of new techniques for locating individual neurons within the brain and other complex structures, for detection and isolation of hormones and other neuropeptides, and for the analysis of the activity of individual neurons has lead to an extraordinary increase in understanding of the physical structure and functional organization of the brain. Similarly, the development of theoretical paradigms and computational tools for analysis of behavior has significantly increased the sophistication of behavioral analysis. The merging of these disparate areas of research in approaching the underlying physiological basis of cognition requires the training of researchers with diverse expertise in fields not often taught together. The program funded by this award will provide both the formal training and the research experience required for creative work at the forefront of modern cognitive science.

The goal of these studies is to map out and determine the functions of human cortical structures involved in attention and working memory control. The work will non-invasively map out the control structures in humans utilizing Functional MagnetiC Resonance Imaging (FMRI). FMRI monitors changes in brain blood oxygenation and flow in single subjects without the need of contrast agents. Increased cortical activity produces increased oxygenation and blood flow, resulting in changes in the paramagnetic ions within the tissue. The result is an increase in the apparent transverse relaxation time (T2*) producing a higher MR return signal for the more activated tissue. The project will utilize the FMRI methodology to functionally map human cortex with millimeter resolution tracking small areas (e.g, 4mm diameter disks) of activity on single subjects. We have demonstrated that we can track multiple levels of processing in the visual system and attentional modulation and switching. These techniques will monitor attentional control structures in superior parietal, anterior cingulate, and pulvinar and memory processing in prefrontal and temporal areas. Experiments map out cortical activation during attentional modulation attentional switching (within hemifields, across hemifields between modalities, and between sensory input and memory), interference effects, the development of automatic processing and basic long term learning. Initial mapping will be performed on normal subjects. Patients with clinical neglect (following stroke) and mild traumatic brain injury, will be examined with behavioral tests and FMRI mapping of attention and memory control shortly after injury and at six month and 1 year follow ups. The work will map out normal processing and recovery of attentional selection and switching in human cortex. The ability to track the recovery process may strongly impact assessment and treatment of these patient groups that make up a substantial portion of brain injury patients. The results will provide the basis for detailed modeling of cortical control processing.

9413228 Schneider This award renews support of a Research Training Group (RTG) that includes 27 faculty from 13 departments at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Most faculty are affiliated with the Departments of Psychology, Neurobiology, or Mathematics. The RTG provides training for undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral fellows with a focus on understanding the role of neural processes in cognition through computational and experimental approaches. Research programs of individual faculty involve modeling of individual nerves and other types of excitable cells, characterization of properties of neural networks, localization of metabolic activity in the brain through use of magnetic resonance imaging and other techniques, a variety of in vitro and in vivo physiological studies, and investigations of the effects of disease on cognition in humans and animals. The RTG sponsors about 5 new graduate and 1-2 new postdoctoral students per year, and supports summer research by 3 undergraduates per year. Trainees at all levels are recruited nationally. Graduate trainees are admitted through one of 13 participating departmental Ph.D. programs or through an interdepartmental neuroscience Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh. Graduate training includes required and elective courses in neuroscience, cognition and mathematics. A number of the courses were developed specifically for the RTG. Additional training includes participation in seminars and workshops sponsored by the RTG, as well as individual and collaborative research. ***

This research advances the mapping of human brain function and the development of computational models of brain structures involved in human cognition. Brain imaging, utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), allows task and process related tracking of brain activity. Cognitive modeling allows the prediction of human behavior in complex intellectual tasks. This project will bring together researchers who represent distinct and successful cognitive modeling architectures with researchers who are at the forefront of fMRI imaging, in an effort to relate cognitive function to human cortical dynamics.

A set of complex tasks will be identified which involve various aspects of learning, problem solving, and language, and for which models exist in one or more architectures. Brain imaging studies will be conducted with people performing all of these tasks. The complex tasks will include: rule learning, strategy learning, memory retrieval, problem solving, and language processing. To provide further constraints, the same people will also be imaged as they perform simpler "pure function" tasks. Models will be developed in the various cognitive architectures that address both the brain imaging data and the behavioral data from these tasks.

The mapping and computational understanding of human brain function can have important implications for education, artificial intelligence, and treatment of mental disorders. Understanding the brain structures involved in higher level cognition and how they interact will provide a better foundation for optimizing human performance and duplicating those functions in computers. An understanding of the neural basis of complex cognition has the potential for making brain research enhance education in the critical areas of skill acquisition and learning. It will also assist in the diagnosis and correction of brain dysfunction such as dyslexia and learning disabilities.

Psychology - Cognitive (73)
An undergraduate laboratory for instruction and research is providing undergraduate psychology students with the foundation in scientific methodology and information technology that will enable them to use and interpret research in their subsequent careers. Such skills are becoming increasingly important in all sectors of our society. The lab serves approximately 500 students, well over half of whom are female, at the University of Pittsburgh, an institution that has been recognized for its recruitment and retention of African Americans. The newly developed E-Prime software is being adapted for use in the laboratory. E-Prime provides the basis for far more effective teaching of research principles by enabling students in normal laboratory courses to develop, design, conduct, and analyze their own experiments. Students can generate and perform novelexperiments as well as gain experience using a wide range of methodologies, including the collection of behavioral and physiological measures, the re-analysis of brain imaging data, and the coding of digitized facial expressions. Lab activities, involving the use of E-Prime, are being adapted for a general course in Experimental Methods that is required of all majors, as well as two substantive upper level courses: a) Learning and Motivation and b) Human Cognition and Learning. The lab is also available to students doing Directed Individual Research and Honors Theses, both of which involve conducting empirical research. With NSF support, we are having a major impact on the way information technology is utilized in the teaching of research methodology for undergraduate students of psychology, one of the largest undergraduate majors in the country. This project has the opportunity to affect science education on a national scale through the development and testing of experiments that are distributed through our industrial partner, Psychology Software Tools. Ultimately, the experiments and related instructional materials are likely to be used by tens of thousands of undergraduates annually.

Brain imaging using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a rapidly growing research discipline which utilizes technology for basic research investigation that was originally developed for clinical medicine. There are serious safety challenges related to expanding basic research fMRI. These are related to the rapid training of many non-medically trained investigators joining the field; codifying the knowledge of best practices that is not easily available; providing targeted safety training for non-medical MR researchers; dealing with special safety issues in research fMRI; addressing differences between FDA regulations and current practices; assisting Institutional Review Boards in handling detailed technical oversight; and evaluating liability exposure of research procedures. A working group of investigators, regulators, and vendors will identify the problems, and plan methods for effectively addressing these problems.

Specific objectives of the workshop are: 1) to bring together members of the basic research, clinical, regulatory (FDA), and vendor communities to identify the risks, precautions, and good practices that should be applied to basic research fMRI imaging procedures; 2) evaluate potential programs that might be initiated to improve the level of safety and quality of imaging done by basic researchers; 3) devise model practices or guidelines for the training of non-medical basic researchers in the areas of patient screening, operating in a magnet, equipment evaluation, scanner operation, use of equipment, and pulse sequence selection; 4) create guidelines for stand-alone MR centers regarding participant safety and responsibility procedures; 5) review existing regulations and practices to determine how they relate to basic research MRI neuroimaging and evaluate the advisability of changes in those regulations; 6) create a plan for production of materials that could be distributed to improve MR training of new basic researchers for fMRI-based research and a plan to encourage adoption of safety guidelines for fMRI- based research; 7) review materials developed following the workshop for distribution via the worldwide web; and 8) present materials regarding the recommendations at major society and researcher meetings.

The two-day workshop will be held in Pittsburgh, PA.