Infant Brain Function
In the Kosakowski Lab, we seek to unlock the mysteries of the human brain in order to understand what infants know and how infants perceive their environment and acquire new knowledge. To do so, we take measurements from infants’ brains while they are engaged in tasks like watching movies or listening to sounds. Sometimes the measurements we take use a big magnet, also known as an MRI machine, to take pictures of infants’ brains and sometimes we use light. The crux of our research is to try and understand how infants perceive and understand the world and how their brains support their learning and cognitive development in the first few months and years of life. Towards this goal, we are particularly interested in the developmental origins of whole-brain networks that support domain-specific cognition and include subcortical structures such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum.
Publications
Infant Neuroimaging and the Origins of Face Responses in Human Cortex
In adults, cortical regions in the fusiform face area (FFA), superior temporal sulcus (STS), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) respond selectively to faces but underlie distinct perceptual and social processes. When do each of these regions, and their distinctive functions, develop? We reviewed recent studies of awake human infants’ cortical responses to faces using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and functional MRI (fMRI). The results converged and do not support a slow, sequential posterior-to-anterior development of face-selective responses. Instead, cortical face-selective responses arise very early and simultaneously in infancy and may reflect distinctively social processes from the start.
Preliminary evidence for selective cortical responses to music in one-month-old infants
Responses to music, speech, and control sounds matched for the spectrotemporal modulation-statistics of each sound were measured from 2- to 11-week-old sleeping infants using fMRI.
Auditory cortex was significantly activated by these stimuli in 19 out of 36 sleeping infants.
Selective responses to music compared to the three other stimulus classes were found in non-primary auditory cortex but not in nearby Heschl’s Gyrus.
Selective responses to speech were not observed in planned analyses but were observed in unplanned, exploratory analyses.
Selective Responses to Faces, Scenes, and Bodies in Human Infant Cortex.
Portions of the ventral visual pathway in adults selectively respond to faces, scenes, and bodies. Here, Kosakowski et al. show that 2- to 9-month-old human infants have face-, scene- and body-selective responses in FFA, PPA, and EBA, respectively, constraining theories of cortical development.
A Size-Adaptive 32-Channel Array Coil for Awake Infant Neuroimaging at 3Tesla MRI.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during infancy poses challenges due to practical, methodological, and analytical considerations. The aim of this study was to implement a hardware- related approach to increase subject compliance for fMRI involving awake infants. To accomplish this, we designed, constructed, and evaluated an adaptive 32- channel array coil.
Social Origins of Cortical Face Areas
Adult primates have highly stereotyped cortical regions for perceiving faces. New fMRI data from infant primates show early preferential responses to faces with an organization similar to adult face areas, but do not answer the question of how this organization arises. Recent neuroimaging data also indicate that medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) responds to positive, contingent social interaction beginning in early infancy. Given that faces have a key role in early social interaction, biased connectivity with mPFC may have a role in scaffolding the development of face selective regions.
Subcortical Organization & Function
Regions distributed across “association” cortex form distinct inter-digitated and parallel networks. At least three of these networks support domain-specific cognition and at least one supports domain-general cognition. Further, each network has distinct regions in the striatum and cerebellum, indicating that these networks maintain their segregation in subcortical structures like the basal ganglia and cerebellum. The Kosakowski Laboratory is interested in understanding (1) how these networks develop and (2) the functional contributions of subcortical structures to network function.
The Brain Basis for Understanding Others’ Experiences
Another research interest of the lab is to learn the brain basis for how humans understand other people’s experiences. When see someone walking down the street, we can make lots of inferences about their state of mind (i.e., their emotions, thoughts, or goals), their social state (i.e., Are they interacting with friends, strangers, a lover? What kind of interaction is it?), and their physical states (i.e., What is their body doing? Are they in pain? Experiencing pleasure?) There is evidence that this type of thought is supported by distinct brain networks / structures. Our lab aims to (1) understand the distinct computations supported by each brain structure and (2) understand the developmental origins of these abilities.
Publications
Infant Neuroimaging and the Origins of Face Responses in Human Cortex
In adults, cortical regions in the fusiform face area (FFA), superior temporal sulcus (STS), and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) respond selectively to faces but underlie distinct perceptual and social processes. When do each of these regions, and their distinctive functions, develop? We reviewed recent studies of awake human infants’ cortical responses to faces using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and functional MRI (fMRI). The results converged and do not support a slow, sequential posterior-to-anterior development of face-selective responses. Instead, cortical face-selective responses arise very early and simultaneously in infancy and may reflect distinctively social processes from the start.
