The maturation and cognitive relevance of structural brain network organization from early infancy to childhood

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 238; p. 118232
• Main Authors: Woodburn, Mackenzie, Bricken, Cheyenne L., Wu, Zhengwang, Li, Gang, Wang, Li, Lin, Weili, Sheridan, Margaret A., Cohen, Jessica R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.09.2021; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Brain; Brain architecture; Childhood; Children; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; Early brain development; Executive function; Integration; Longitudinal MRI; Maturation; Maturational coupling; Motor skill learning; Specialization; Structural covariance networks; Early brain development; Cognition; Longitudinal MRI; Maturational coupling; Structural covariance networks
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118232

•Cortical thickness networks were mapped longitudinally from infancy to six years.•Brain network segregation increased between early infancy and six years.•Brain networks became less integrated across the first six years of life.•Brain maturation across the first year related to motor learning at 8–10 years. The interactions of brain regions with other regions at the network level likely provide the infrastructure necessary for cognitive processes to develop. Specifically, it has been theorized that in infancy brain networks become more modular, or segregated, to support early cognitive specialization, before integration across networks increases to support the emergence of higher-order cognition. The present study examined the maturation of structural covariance networks (SCNs) derived from longitudinal cortical thickness data collected between infancy and childhood (0–6 years). We assessed modularity as a measure of network segregation and global efficiency as a measure of network integration. At the group level, we observed trajectories of increasing modularity and decreasing global efficiency between early infancy and six years. We further examined subject-based maturational coupling networks (sbMCNs) in a subset of this cohort with cognitive outcome data at 8–10 years, which allowed us to relate the network organization of longitudinal cortical thickness maturation to cognitive outcomes in middle childhood. We found that lower global efficiency of sbMCNs throughout early development (across the first year) related to greater motor learning at 8–10 years. Together, these results provide novel evidence characterizing the maturation of brain network segregation and integration across the first six years of life, and suggest that specific trajectories of brain network maturation contribute to later cognitive outcomes.