I-LABS will combine powerful brain-imaging tools for the first time to uncover the mechanisms of learning. We use MEG brain-imaging technology in the quest to see brain activity in real time and learn how infants’ and young children’s brains develop. We will identify the neural super highways that are necessary for specific and crucial developmental advances and will create new child brain models up to age five. I-LABS will develop a new technique for brain analysis integrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and MEG that allows us to connect a young child’s behavior to his or her brain activity. Viewing real-time maps of the child’s neural pathways, we will see brain structure and function concurrently.
I-LABS will use MEG technology to advance the field of face-to-face neuroscience. We know the earliest social-emotional interactions between child and caregiver are subtle and profound. We will be able to measure the brain activity of both child and caregiver as they interact. By applying I-LABS’ MEG brain-imaging technology, we can determine with great precision the brain structures and neural pathways in an infant’s brain that are involved in interacting with another person. Simultaneously measuring the caregiver on one brain-imaging device and the child on another will enable us to monitor how their brains become synchronized and respond to each other. What we learn will merge social-emotional learning with brain imaging technology.
