Emergence of a hierarchical brain during infancy reflected by stepwise functional connectivity.

ABSTRACT: The hierarchical nature of the brain's functional organization has long been recognized, but when and how this architecture emerges during development remains largely unknown. Here the development of the brain's hierarchical organization was characterized using a modified stepwise functional connectivity approach based on resting-state fMRI in a fully longitudinal sample of infants (N = 28, with scans after birth, and at 1 and 2 years) and adults. Results obtained by placing seeds in early sensory cortices revealed novel hierarchical patterns of adult brain organization ultimately converging in limbic, paralimbic, basal ganglia, and frontoparietal brain regions. These findings are remarkably consistent with predictive coding accounts of neural processing that place these regions at the top

SUBMITTER: Pendl SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6064649 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature