With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Vaidya will conduct a year long investigation of the role, across stages of human development, of specific brain regions in mediating the ability to consciously record, retain, and recall past experience. Late childhood is marked by rapid mastery of a variety of cognitive skills that are instrumental to educational, emotional, and social development. One such cognitive skill is declarative memory, the ability to consciously record, retain, and recall past experience. Between the ages of 7 and 13 years, the human brain undergoes profound physical changes that are thought to underlie improved memory abilities. These childhood years are also marked by a great amount of individual variation such that children of the same age differ considerably in the level of memory performance. Currently, there is little understanding of what specific brain changes mediate memory skills in childhood. Dr. Vaidya's study examines how neural networks mediating memory for verbal materials differ in individuals of different ages and in individuals of the same age but different levels of memory performance. Her study examines the role of two brain regions, medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex, in mediating memory in 7-9 year old children, 11-13 year old children, and 20-22 year old adults. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to examine brain activity related to memories strengthened by the use of strategies and memories simply forgotten.
The findings in this study are expected to lead to important information about the neurobiology of memory development. This work will advance the understanding of brain function and organization and its role in individual and developmental differences in a primary form of memory. This work is also likely to have implications for understanding the effects of closed head injury in individuals of different age.
