The application proposes to examine the domain of Perception as applied to young infants. P50 sensory gating will be utilized as the primary measure of Perception. Three approaches will be utilized: (1) Examine if infant P50 sensory gating is predictive of 4 year-old behavior; (2) Examine if infant P50 sensory gating is related to 4 year-old measures of Perception, Attention, and Cognitive Control; and (3) Identify the neural correlates of infant P50 sensory gating utilizing fMRI. This work should help to clarify the validiy of the RDoC classification system in young infants.
P50 sensory gating, a biomarker for perception, has been linked, in adults to neurocognitive, and in particular, cognitive control performance. While P50 sensory gating can be assessed in young infants, little is known about (a) whether this very early assessment is associated with childhood cognitive control performance, nor (b) the neural correlates of P50 sensory gating in this age range. This proposal seeks to evaluate the early childhood relationship between perception and cognitive control by (1) examining the relationship between infant P50 sensory gating and four-year-old measures of perception, cognitive control, and attention and (2) utilizing fMRI to examine resting state activity in relevat brain regions including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
