FIBR Planning: Cortical Organization and Limits of Human Potential

University South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project focuses on how the acquisition of complex skills interacts with and influences cortical organization. Borrowing a conceptual framework from evolutionary biology, both adaptive and nonadaptive skills are being considered. It has been suggested by research and in the popular press that there is sometimes a positive interaction, such as between musical and mathematical skills, and sometimes a negative interaction, such as between computer and socioemotional skills, when complex skills are acquired. This project will use both humans and rats as subjects and would examine acquisition of the skills during various times during development and in adulthood. Analyses include both behavioral and neuroanatomical measures. Cortical organization will be examined using neuroimaging and ERP technology in humans and neuroanatomical techniques in animals. Studies in humans include laboratory, field and cross-cultural studies. The planning process includes three meetings to develop concepts and define tasks and approaches, two trips to facilitate the cross-cultural studies, and initial experiments to gather pilot data from both humans and rats. The intellectual merit of the proposal resides within the novelty and importance of the question to be answered and the interdisciplinary approach. The impact of acquisition of multiple skills on cortical organization in intact individuals is not well understood. While many studies have demonstrated effects of the acquisition of one skill on cortical organization, few, if any, have considered the possible interactions of multiple skills. The data from the proposed studies will provide information about the basic processes of cortical organization in the face of environmental demands and also about the interactions of skill acquisition on a behavioral level. The PI and co-PI bring their expertise in neuroscience and cognitive science together to propose an interdisciplinary approach to the question. The planning activities involve others with expertise in development, neuroimaging, statistical modeling, and evolutionary biology. The planning activities will be instrumental in developing the initial concepts outlined above to the point where a full proposal can be developed. The broader impacts of this project are at several levels. Given that there is increasing pressure to acquire non-adaptive skills at younger and younger ages in Western society, understanding the effects of this pressure on other skills, both adaptive and non-adaptive, is essential. The outcome of the project will have basic implications for the education system in this society. In addition, the planning activities include recruitment of researchers outside of biology to participate and some of these individuals will be from the five traditionally black colleges within a 60 mile radius of the home institute in South Carolina. The involvement of both postdoctoral and graduate students will be crucial to the success of the full proposal and they are involved in the planning process as well. Importantly, the planning process and the actual studies proposed will involve collaboration of individuals across a number of different disciplines, including biology, psychology, education, and statistics and will require training in the various fields of all involved individuals.