Developmental heatmaps of brain functional connectivity from newborns to 6-year-olds. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Haitao; Liu, Janelle; Chen, Yuanyuan; Salzwedel, Andrew; Cornea, Emil; Gilmore, John H.; Gao, Wei
• Is Part Of: Developmental cognitive neuroscience. Volume 50(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Connectivity -- Development -- Infant -- Childhood -- Network -- rsfMRI; Cognitive neuroscience -- Periodicals; Developmental neurobiology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychiatry -- Periodicals; 612.8233
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100976
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1878-9293

Abstract

Highlights: Heatmaps quantify degrees of developmental changes in functional connectivity. More changes are observed in the first than second postnatal year, driven by girls. Most change is observed from ages 2–4 compared with any other age span. Limbic and subcortical areas show more changes than primary sensory regions. Consistent trajectories of functional connectivity are found across validations. Abstract: Different functional networks exhibit distinct longitudinal trajectories throughout development, but the timeline of the dynamics of functional connectivity across the whole brain remains to be elucidated. Here we used resting-state fMRI to investigate the development of voxel-level changes in functional connectivity across the first six years of life. Globally, we found that developmental changes in functional connectivity are nonlinear with more changes during the first postnatal year than the second, followed by most significant changes from ages 2–4 and from ages 4–6. However, the overall global difference observed between the first and second year appears to have been driven by girls. Limbic and subcortical areas consistently demonstrated the most substantial changes, whereas primary sensory areas were the most stable. These patterns were consistent in full-term and preterm subgroups. Validation on randomly divided subsamples as well as in an independent cross-sectional sample revealed global patterns consistent with the main results. Overall, the derived developmental heatmaps reveal novel dynamics underlying functional circuit development during the first 6 years of life.