老龄化对大脑可塑性的影响:健康老年人和青年人视皮层早期加工机制的比较研究

项目名称： 老龄化对大脑可塑性的影响:健康老年人和青年人视皮层早期加工机制的比较研究

项目编号： No.31471070

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2015

项目学科： 神经、认识与心理学

项目作者： 丁玉珑

作者单位： 中山大学

项目金额： 85万元

中文摘要： 本项目以ERP技术为主要研究手段，结合行为认知功能测量和视觉训练，深入系统地比较健康老年人和青年人的视皮层早期信息处理时间进程，研究正常老化对于成熟大脑感知皮层可塑性和行为认知能力的影响机制。本项目通过严格精细的ERP实验设计和数据分析，区分不同的早期视皮层加工成分（感知成分和注意成分），并研究以下具体问题：(1) 老龄化对视皮层早期感知信息处理机制的影响；（2）老龄化对视皮层选择性注意（空间注意，特征注意和注意捕获等）加工机制的影响。在此基础上，探索性地研究（3）老龄化相关早期视皮层活动变化与个体行为认知能力的关系（4）能否通过视觉训练改变老化引起的视皮层早期加工功能衰退。本项目对于深入理解成熟感知皮层的老化机制，以及早期视皮层加工在认知老化中的作用具有重要的理论意义，对提高老年人认知功能和身心健康具有重要现实意义。

中文关键词： 视觉注意；事件相关电位；脑机制；认知老化；视知觉学习

英文摘要： This project aims to investigate the effect of aging on early stages of visual cortical processing and its relationship with cognitive performance. Using event-related potential (ERP) technique, we will compare the differences of early visual processing between healthy older and younger adults. Behavioral methods, such as cognitive measures and visual training, will also be adopted. Throung well-controlled experiments and careful data analysis, we will extract different ERP components in early stages of visual cortical processing, such as perceptual components and attentional components. We will focus on the following questions: (1) How does aging affect early sensory processing in visual cortex? (2) How does aging affect the attentional modulaton on early stages of visual cortical processing, such as the modulation by spatial attention, feature attention and attentional capture? Furthermore, we will investigate (3) the correlation between age-related early visual cortical mechanisms and behavioral performance in various cognition tests, and (4) the influence of visual training on aging-induced deficits in early visual cortial processing. This project will have both theorical importance for revealing the early cortical mechanisms of aging and practial significance for improving the cognitive performance and mental health of older adults.

英文关键词： visual attention;event-related potention;brain mechanism;aging;visual perceptual learning