AGING-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING SPEECH MOTOR LEARNING - SUMMARY AGING IS ASSOCIAT…

Assistance award details

Assistance award identifier

ASST_NON_K00AG088438_075

FAIN

K00AG088438

Recipient

REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, THE

Awarding agency

Department of Health and Human Services

Funding agency

Department of Health and Human Services

Assistance listing (CFDA)

93.866

Total obligated

$168,143

Period

Sep 16, 2024 – May 31, 2029

Fiscal year

2025

Place of performance state

CA

Source file

FY2025_All_Assistance_Full_20261006.zip

Description

AGING-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING SPEECH MOTOR LEARNING - SUMMARY AGING IS ASSOCIATED WITH A DECLINE IN THE NEURAL SUBSTRATES AND SENSORIMOTOR PROCESSES SUBSERVING SPEECH MOTOR CONTROL. IN ADDITION, AGING-RELATED NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES SUCH AS PARKINSON’S DISEASE MAY LEAD TO SEVERE MOTOR SPEECH IMPAIRMENTS. PRIOR EFFORTS TO INCORPORATE KNOWN PRINCIPLES OF MOTOR LEARNING INTO MOTOR SPEECH TREATMENT PROGRAMS ARE IMPEDED BY THE LACK OF EMPIRICAL DATA ON HOW THE AGING PROCESS AFFECTS DIFFERENT FORMS OF SPEECH MOTOR LEARNING AT BOTH THE BEHAVIORAL AND NEURAL LEVEL. IN MY PREDOCTORAL WORK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (F99 PHASE), MY DISSERTATION FOCUSES ON TWO DISTINCT FORMS OF SPEECH MOTOR LEARNING: AUDITORY-MOTOR ADAPTATION AND SYLLABLE SEQUENCE LEARNING. NO PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE DIRECTLY COMPARED THE NEURAL BASES OF THESE FORMS OF MOTOR LEARNING OR INVESTIGATED HOW THEY ARE AFFECTED BY AGING. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS OF THIS PROJECT IS THAT SPEECH ADAPTATION AND SYLLABLE SEQUENCE LEARNING RELY LARGELY ON DISTINCT CORTICAL-SUBCORTICAL NETWORKS AND, THEREFORE, ARE DIFFERENTIALLY AFFECTED BY THE AGING PROCESS. IN AIM 1.1, I INVESTIGATE THE SUBCORTICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTH FORMS OF MOTOR LEARNING BY COMPARING INDIVIDUALS WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE WHO HAVE DBS ELECTRODES IMPLANTED IN THE SUBTHALAMIC NUCLEUS (STN) IN THE CORTICO-BASAL GANGLIA CIRCUIT, INDIVIDUALS WITH ESSENTIAL TREMOR WHO HAVE DBS ELECTRODES IMPLANTED IN THE VENTROLATERAL NUCLEUS OF THE THALAMUS (VIM) IN THE CORTICO-CEREBELLAR CIRCUIT, AND AGE-MATCHED CONTROL PARTICIPANTS. ANALYSES ARE BASED ON BOTH BEHAVIORAL DATA FROM DBS ON/OFF CONDITIONS AND NEURAL DATA FROM A SUBGROUP OF PATIENTS WHOSE DBS DEVICE ALLOWS SENSING FROM THE IMPLANTED NUCLEI. IN AIM 1.2, I DIRECTLY STUDY THE EFFECTS OF AGING ITSELF ON SPEECH MOTOR LEARNING BY USING EEG TO COMPARE CORTICAL NEURAL ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH SPEECH AUDITORY-MOTOR ADAPTATION AND SYLLABLE SEQUENCE LEARNING IN HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS VE