Neuroimaging In Developmental Clinical Neuroscience

Covers normative structural and functional brain maturation and mechanisms underlying basic developmental processes through neuroimaging.

Modern neuroimaging offers tremendous opportunities for gaining insights into normative development and a wide array of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders. Focusing on ontogeny, this text covers basic processes involved in both healthy and atypical maturation, and also addresses the range of neuroimaging techniques most widely used for studying children. This book will enable you to understand normative structural and functional brain maturation and the mechanisms underlying basic developmental processes; become familiar with current knowledge and hypotheses concerning the neural bases of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders; and learn about neuroimaging techniques, including their unique strengths and limitations. Coverage includes normal developmental processes, atypical processing in developmental neuropsychiatric disorders, ethical issues, neuroimaging techniques and their integration with psychopharmacologic and molecular genetic research approaches, and future directions. This comprehensive volume is an essential resource for neurologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and radiologists concerned with normal development and developmental neuropsychiatric disorders.

Landmark text focusing on the development of brain and behavior during infancy, childhood, and adolescence Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience provides an accessible introduction to the main methods, theories, and empirical findings of developmental cognitive neuroscience. The focus is on human development from in utero to early adulthood, but key comparative work is also included. This new edition covers research in clinical/medical populations, educational applications and major advancements in methods and analysis, in particular with increasing longitudinal research focusing on understanding the mechanisms of cognitive development. It also contains a new chapter on global and cross-cultural perspectives outlining how developmental cognitive neuroscience has been applied in different settings and how techniques can be successfully adapted. The text features a variety of student-friendly features such as chapter-end discussion, applications of basic research, and introductions to key experimental methods. An accompanying related resource website for students and educators that includes a test bank of multiple choice questions is also provided. Other sample topics covered in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience include: Biology of change, methods, and populations, from gene to brain, building a brain, and vision, orienting, and attention Perceiving and acting in a world of objects, learning, and long-term memory, language, and prefrontal cortex, working memory, and decision-making Perceiving and acting in the social world, educational neuroscience, interactive specialization, and integrating development cognitive neuroscience Mid-childhood and adolescent development, social cognition and neuroimaging, and broader cognitive neuroscience approaches and theory With expansive yet accessible coverage of the subject, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience is an ideal resourcefor upper level undergraduate and early postgraduate readers. The text will further appeal to professionals in fields that have adopted developmental cognitive neuroscience approaches, such as education, clinical psychology, pediatric medicine and global health.

Examines the subject of neuroimaging of the human brain. This volume is divided into four sections: imaging of structural development; imaging of perceptual and cognitive development; imaging of abnormal development; and imaging of brain-behaviour relationships.

A new edition of the essential resource on using functional neuroimaging techniques to study the neural basis of cognition, revised with the student in mind; thoroughly updated, with new chapters on fMRI physics, skill learning, emotion and social cognition, and other topics. This essential resource on neuroimaging provides an accessible and user-friendly introduction to the field written by leading researchers. The book describes theoretical and methodological developments in the use of functional neuroimaging techniques to study the neural basis of cognition, from early scientific efforts to link brain and behavior to the latest applications of fMRI and PET methods. The core of the book covers fMRI and PET studies in specific domains: attention, skill learning, semantic memory, language, episodic memory, working memory, and executive functions. By introducing a technique within the description of a domain, the book offers a clear explanation of the process while highlighting its biological context. The emphasis on readability makes Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition ideal for classroom use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive neuroscience. This second edition has been completely updated to reflect new developments in the field, with existing chapters rewritten and new chapters added to each section. The section on history and methods now includes a chapter on the crucial topic of the physics of functional neuroimaging; the chapters on skill learning and executive functions are new to the domain section; and chapters on childhood development and emotion and social cognition have been added to the section on developmental, social, and clinical applications. The color insert has been increased in size, enhancing the visual display of representative findings. Contributors Todd S. Braver, Jeffrey Browndyke, Roberto Cabeza, B.J. Casey, Jody Culham, Clayton E. Curtis, Mark D'Esposito, Sander Daselaar, Lila Davachi, Ian Dobbins, Karl J. Friston, Barry Giesbrecht, Todd C. Handy, Joseph B. Hopfinger, Scott A. Huettel, Irene P. Kan, Alan Kingstone, Eleni Kotsoni, Kevin S. LaBar, George R. Mangun, Gregory McCarthy, Uta Noppeney, Robyn T. Oliver, Elizabeth A. Phelps, Russel A. Poldrack, Cathy J. Price, Marcus E. Raichle, Hannes Ruge, Gaia Scerif, Allen W. Song, Sharon L. Thompson-Schill, Daniel T. Willingham, Richard J.S. Wise

Research on the human brain development has seen an upturn in the past years mostly due to novel neuroimaging tools that became available to study the anatomy and function of the developing brain. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) are beginning to be used more frequently in children to determine the gross anatomy and structural connectivity of their brain. Functional MRI and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) determine the hemodynamics and electroencephalography (EEG) the electrophysiological functions of the developing human brain. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) complements EEG as the only other technique capable of directly measuring the developing brain electrophysiology. Although MEG is still being used relatively rarely in pediatric studies, the recent development in this technology is beginning to demonstrate its utility in both basic and clinical neurosciences. MEG seems to be quite attractive for pediatric use, since it measures the human brain activity in an entirely passive manner without possessing any conceivable risk to the developing tissue. MEG sessions generally require minimal patient preparation, and the recordings are extremely well tolerated from children. Biomagnetic techniques also offer an indirect way to assess the functional brain and heart activity of fetuses in humans in utero by measuring the magnetic field outside the maternal abdomen. Magnetic field produced by the electrical activity in the heart and brain of the fetus is not attenuated by the vernix, a waxy film covering its entire skin. A biomagnetic instrument specifically designed for fetal studies has been developed for this purpose. Fetal MEG studies using such a system have shown that both spontaneous brain activity and evoked cortical activity can be measured from outside the abdomen of pregnant mothers. Fetal MEG may become clinically very useful for implementation and evaluation of intervention programs in at-risk populations. Biomagnetic instruments have also been developed for specifically measuring the brain activity in newborns, infants and older children. MEG studies have shown the usefulness of MEG for localizing active regions in the brain and also for tracking the longitudinal maturation of various sensory systems. Studies of pediatric patients are beginning to show interesting functional pathology in autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other types of neurological and psychiatric disorders (Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, Tourette syndrome, hearing deficits, childhood migraine). In this eBook, we compile the state of the art MEG and other neuroimaging studies focused on pediatric population in both health and disease. We believe a review of the recent studies of human brain development using MEG is quite timely, since we are witnessing advances not only in the instrumentation optimized for the pediatric population, but also in the research based on various types of MEG systems designed for both human fetuses in utero and neonates and older children.

Is Newton’s brain different from Rembrandt’s? Does a mother’s diet during pregnancy impact brain growth? Do adolescent peers leave a signature in the social brain? Does the way we live in our middle years affect how our brains age? To answer these and many other questions, we can now turn to population neuroscience. Population neuroscience endeavors to identify environmental and genetic factors that shape the function and structure of the human brain; it uses the tools and knowledge of genetics (and the “omics” sciences), epidemiology and neuroscience. This text attempts to provide a bridge spanning these three disciplines so that their practitioners can communicate easily with each other when working together on large-scale imaging studies of the developing, mature and aging brain. By understanding the processes driving variations in brain function and structure across individuals, we will also be able to predict an individual’s risk of (or resilience against) developing a brain disorder. In the long term, the hope is that population neuroscience will lay the foundation for personalized preventive medicine and, in turn, reduce the burden associated with complex, chronic disorders of brain and body.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.