Renee R. Lajiness-O'Neill, Ph.D - US grants

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The need for an efficient, low-cost, yet comprehensive measure to evaluate and track infant/toddler development and treatment outcomes is vital. Such a measure, coupled with a systematic method to gather this information, does not exist. The NICHD Child Development and Behavior Branch identified this need as a research priority, further noting the importance of a measure that can be linked with developmental changes in the brain. We propose the development and testing of a novel measure that collects consistent data from parents/caregivers to characterize infant/toddler development over time, similar to growth curves for height and weight. Clinicians currently rely on information caregivers share at well-child visits, which can be difficult to synthesize when evaluating a young child?s developmental trajectories. Information gathered via our proposed innovative measure also has potential to become common data elements (i.e., universally accepted and standardized data) to promote infant/toddler health, setting the stage for identifying the earliest risk indicators and trajectories of neurodevelopmental disorders. The overall objective of this application is to further develop and validate PediaTracTM, a web-based measure designed to engage parents/caregivers in the gathering of longitudinal, real-time, multi-domain data on infant/toddler development beginning at birth. Our long-term goal is to develop the PediaTrac measure to become a standard for monitoring development and early detection in the primary clinical care setting. Core domains of early development assessed with PediaTrac include feeding/eating, sleep, sensorimotor, social-communication/cognition, and attachment. Information also is obtained about demographic, medical, and environmental factors. Using this approach that systematically measures these domains during a schedule that corresponds to well-child visits (newborn (NB), 2-, 4-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 15-, 18-months), we will establish trajectories of typical/atypical development across critical domains of functioning for infants and toddlers. We will meet the objective of the application through these aims: Aim 1: Using a longitudinal study of 360 parents/caregivers of term infants, we will assess the aforementioned domains on the well-child visit schedule to refine PediaTrac?s items and scales as well as evaluate PediaTrac?s ability to reveal expected variation in the population across the domains assessed, providing both valid and reliable information about infant and toddler development. Aim 2: Using the aforementioned longitudinal sample plus 240 parents/caregivers of high-risk infants (< 37 weeks gestational age), we will use statistical modeling methods to demonstrate that PediaTrac can identify subgroups and their unique longitudinal trajectories. Aim 3: We will examine the ability of the PediaTrac domains at each sampling period to individually and cumulatively predict overall development at 24 months in a subsample of 100 participants. Our expected outcome is an easy to use, yet powerful measure and method that could substantially improve the public health of infants and toddlers by refining our understanding of aggregate and individualized risks and subsequently inform early intervention.

This Major Research Instrumentation award supports the acquisition of an Electroencephalography (EEG) system (ANT Neuro eego mylab128-channel) to establish the first EEG laboratory for brain imaging at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). EEG is a non-invasive human brain imaging method that measures neural electrical activity in the human brain arising from thinking and behavior with millisecond accuracy. The EEG laboratory critically expands neuroscience training and research in the Departments of Psychology, Communication Sciences and Disorders, and the interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program (Psychology, Biology, Chemistry). The EEG laboratory also has a substantial regional impact on the institutional community. EMU is recognized as one of the most diverse universities in the Midwest. The EEG laboratory allows EMU to contribute to the broader aims of the scientific community to recruit, retain, and promote members of minoritized groups into STEM fields. The laboratory allows for workshops to train local and regional faculty and students on neuroimaging, serve as a catalyst for the development of research assistantships and fellowships targeted for underrepresented students, including those from rural communities, and be central in creating a mentoring partnership with the McNair Scholars Program for students interested in EEG research. The EEG laboratory enhances collaborative research efforts within EMU, with partnering regional institutions, and foster national collaborations in developmental neuroscience.

Knowledge of the brain mechanisms underlying fundamental cognitive and behavioral processes (e.g. attention and language) in infants/children and older adults, the precise timing of developmental changes, and knowledge of crucial environmental factors that impact this timing has lagged behind research with younger adults and remains a frontier of investigation. EEG is non-invasive and well-tolerated by infants and children. This team examines the EEG signals and developmental timing of key cognitive and behavioral processes including attention and working memory, motor control, self-regulation, sleep, and communication. EEG event-related potentials, frequency (power), and brain connectivity in developing neural networks are explored. The electrophysiological mechanisms (spectral power and connectivity) underpinning the development of the default mode and dorsal attention networks and orienting system in infancy/toddlerhood are examined to clarify the relationships between attention and social-communication. The neural correlates of change of bimanual and unimanual motor control across the lifespan as well as the neural underpinnings of inconsistent hand preference and hand dominance are being investigated. Investigators are examining developmental changes and environmental precursors of event-related potentials hypothesized to underlie self-regulation. Investigation of the functions of napping, including neurophysiology and behavior, in early childhood provide vital information on reciprocal relations between the development of sleep-wake regulation and the development of attention. Finally, few studies have examined the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying working memory-linguistic processes in older adults. EEG is being used to explore the long-term learning effects and the compensatory processes that occur in older adults.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.