# NSF-BSF: Elucidating the functional and microstructural development of the human visual system across the lifespan

> **NSF 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · Stanford University (CA) · $795,439

## Abstract

Children's brains grow and change in ways that help them understand what they see. Over development, babies and children learn to recognize familiar faces and places, make sense of words on a page, and make visual decisions such as "Is this my mother?" or "What word am I reading?" This project explains how children develop visual intelligence by studying how brain structure and brain function change together from infancy to young adulthood. The research may help scientists create earlier ways to detect when development is going off track, so children and families can receive earlier support and have better long-term outcomes. The project may also inspire new kinds of biologically inspired artificial intelligence (AI). Most AI systems have a fixed design, but children's brain tissue grows as visual abilities develop. Understanding how changes in brain tissue and visual abilities are linked may help engineers build biologically inspired AI systems with adaptable designs that can grow and become more efficient over time.

The project studies how brain activity and brain tissue change together in the ventral visual stream, a major brain pathway that supports visual understanding, including face recognition, place recognition, reading, and visual decision-making. The research team uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain responses to visual inputs and quantitative MRI (qMRI) to measure brain tissue properties in the same children. The project tests wh

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2547344
- **Awardee organization:** Stanford University (CA)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** HJD6G4D6TJY5
- **PI:** Kalanit O Grill-Spector
- **Primary program:** 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** Translational Research, DS-Developmental Sciences, COGNEURO, Biotechnology
- **Estimated total:** $795,439
- **Funds obligated:** $795,439
- **Transaction type:** Standard Grant
- **Period:** 07/01/2026 → 06/30/2029

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2547344

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2547344, NSF-BSF: Elucidating the functional and microstructural development of the human visual system across the lifespan. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2547344. Licensed CC0.

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