"正常"儿童大脑的定义?

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\"正常\"儿童大脑的定义?

For Children’s Brains, a Quest to Define ‘Normal’
Posted by Jacob Goldstein

What’s a normal kid’s brain look like? Nobody knows exactly, but a federally funded study aims to find out, Lee Hotz writes today in his WSJ science column.

Kids’ brains aren’t simply smaller versions of adult brains. “A developing brain looks weird,” the pediatric neurologist in charge of the project said. “Something that might be normal in an adult might look abnormal in a child.”

But until recently, brain imaging techniques have been too invasive or risky to use on healthy children, so it’s been impossible to get a good look at what’s going on. The $30 million study uses relatively new, non-invasive brain scans, along with psychological profiles, medical exams and intelligence tests. The tests were given over time to 385 healthy children in six U.S. cities.

Researchers hope their findings will help illuminate a wide array of questions, ranging from how children learn to the nature of autism. “Once we know the map,” said one brain imaging expert, “we can tell what nudges the brain for good or ill.”


正常儿童大脑是什么样子？没有人知道确切的答案，但Lee Hotz在WSJ科学专栏中说，一项由联办政府基金资助的研究打算寻找此答案。

儿童的大脑并不是成人大脑的简单缩小模版。负责该课题的儿科神经学家说，“一个发育中的大脑是不可思议的”。“某些东西在成人中可能是正常的，但对于儿童可能就不正常。”

但是到目前为止，用于健康儿童来说大脑影像技术的创伤性或者风险都太强，因此不可能用以观察大脑的发育情况。这项耗资三千万美元的研究使用一种相对新型的无创大脑扫描仪，同时进行心理评价、医学测验及智力测验。这些测试随时间推移对美国六个城市的385名健康儿童展开。

研究人员希望其研究结果能有助于启发广泛的问题，从儿童如何学习到自闭症的特点等。一位脑影像专家说，“一旦我们了解了图象”，“我们就可以知道什么导致大脑的好坏”。