Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Cognitive control refers to a set of mental processes that help us meet everyday challenges such as planning vacations or solving mechanical problems. These processes develop gradually through childhood and adolescence in association with changes in the brain. Although it is well-known that cognitive control is important for children's success in school, relationships with peers, and healthy lifestyle choices, how the development of cognitive control relates to changes in brain function remains unclear. The current project will measure cognitive control in a large sample of individuals ranging in age from 9- to 32-years and acquire pictures of the brain from these individuals using an MRI scanner. Through careful analysis of the brain images, we will learn how regions of the brain that are important for cognitive control communicate with each other, how these patterns of communication differ for individuals of different ages, and how differences in communication patterns in the brain relate to differences in cognitive control. Funding for this project will support discovery-based science at one of Canada's top research-intensive universities. Discovery-based science projects, such as this one, are instrumental for understanding the intellectual development of children. Such insights provide an important foundation for characterizing and ultimately remediating disorders of the mind, such as ADHD and autism, and guide the development of educational programs for our public-school system. Funding will also help train the next generation of child-development scientists by providing trainees with the highest-quality brain and behavioural data, opportunities to interact with leading national and international scientists, and support for research activities both inside and outside of the laboratory.