The role of the prefrontal cortex in the development of uniquely human social cognition. (360G-Wellcome-082659_Z_07_Z)

£250,000

Among the specific brain areas involved in the adult social brain, functional activity in prefrontal cortex (PFC), particularly the medial prefrontal cortices (MPFC), is of special importance for uniquely human social cognition. However, we know very little about the role that the PFC plays in the development of human social cognition. The proposed project will test between two hypotheses: (1) maturational view: that PFC regions mature later in development (after the first year) and enables the child to apply sophisticated processing to social stimuli; (2) specialisation view: that PFC is active, but poorly specialised, early in development, and gradually, with development, becomes more specialised in dealing with the social world. Therefore, the goal of the proposed project is to systematically investigate prefrontal activity across ages in response to a variety of socially relevant cues that have been found to activate specific areas in adult PFC (mutual gaze, joint attention) using neuroimaging techniques that allow precise spatial localization (i.e., functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and near-infrared spectroscopy in infants). This will enable us to map the involvement of the prefrontal cortex across early developmental stages to better understand the functional specialisation of the social brain.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 250000
Applicant Surname Grossmann
Approval Committee Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships Interview Committee
Award Date 2007-05-30T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2006/07
Grant Programme: Title Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship
Internal ID 082659/Z/07/Z
Lead Applicant Dr Tobias Grossmann
Partnership Value 250000
Planned Dates: End Date 2011-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2008-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Greater London
Sponsor(s) Dr B Casey, Dr David Boas, Prof Mark Johnson