Descripción del proyecto
Estudio de las interacciones entre padres y recién nacidos para mejorar la salud encefálica
A pesar de los importantes avances en la comprensión de la actividad encefálica, los procesos de aprendizaje y el papel que desempeñan las experiencias de la primera infancia en el bienestar posterior, los científicos aún no cuentan con tecnologías capaces de explicar los mecanismos precisos de las interacciones cotidianas entre bebés y padres, que dan forma a las funciones encefálicas fundamentales. El proyecto SAPIENS, financiado con fondos europeos, colmará ese vacío mediante un estudio revolucionario sobre la dinámica de los intercambios sociales tempranos a microescala con vistas a explicar cómo moldean el desarrollo encefálico y cognitivo las interacciones entre bebés y padres. Se utilizarán métodos ecológicos y móviles para la medición del comportamiento encefálico en tiempo real, inteligencia artificial y modelización de datos, que permitirán realizar intervenciones tempranas para el autismo o los trastornos por déficit/hiperactividad. Además, se formará un equipo de investigadores excelentes que contribuirá a introducir formas altamente innovadoras de diagnóstico y tratamiento clínico.
Objetivo
The first three years of life are critical for children’s long-term development, health and wellbeing, since core brain functions are formed during this period and the brain is much more vulnerable to adversity, which is key for the emergence of developmental disorders (autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Identifying the mechanisms that act during early childhood to shape individual long-term social development is essential for improving the health and wellbeing and has far-reaching consequences for social and educational policy. We propose that this key scientific problem cannot be solved without first understanding how early social exchanges tune critical brain functions in early childhood. Daily, repeated exchanges between infants and caregivers provide the substrate for the interacting influences of genes and the environment on brain development. By studying the micro-scale dynamics of early social exchanges we can revolutionise the understanding of macro-scale development of socially-relevant functions like theory of mind, language, attention, and emotion regulation. Our radically new approach puts social exchanges at the heart of brain development, which is sculpted through a complex ongoing cascade of interactions between the brain and its social environment. SAPIENS combines advances in ecological, mobile real-time brain and behaviour measurement, data modelling and artificial intelligence approaches to train a new generation of researchers in implementing these ground-breaking approaches to early social development. SAPIENS will generate revolutionary new tools for translating cutting-edge basic science into clinical diagnostic and treatment tools for developmental disorders, while engaging the public and delivering new public policy. By building on a strong intersectorial network of excellent research centres and industry, we will provide highly innovative and multidisciplinary training for young research leaders in developmental science.
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MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinador
WC1E 7HX London
Reino Unido