Dynamic Reconfiguration of Structural and Functional Connectivity Across Core Neurocognitive Brain Networks with Development

Abstract

Brain structural and functional development, throughout childhood and into adulthood, underlies the maturation of increasingly sophisticated cognitive abilities. High-level attentional and cognitive control processes rely on the integrity of, and dynamic interactions between, core neurocognitive networks. The right fronto-insular cortex (rFIC) is a critical component of a salience network (SN) that mediates interactions between large-scale brain networks involved in externally-oriented attention (central executive network, CEN) and internally-oriented cognition (default mode network, DMN). How these systems reconfigure and mature with development is a critical question for cognitive neuroscience, with implications for neurodevelopmental pathologies affecting brain connectivity. Using functional and effective connectivity measures applied to fMRI data, we examine interactions within and between the SN, CEN, and DMN. We find that functional coupling between key network nodes is stronger in adults than in children, as are causal links emanating from the rFIC. Specifically, the causal influence of the rFIC on nodes of the SN and CEN was significantly greater in adults compared to children. Notably, these results were entirely replicated on an independent dataset of matched children and adults. Developmental changes in functional and effective connectivity were related to structural connectivity along these links. DTI tractography revealed increased structural integrity in adults compared to children along both within- and between-network pathways associated with the rFIC. These results suggest that structural and functional maturation of rFIC pathways is a critical component of the process by which human brain networks mature during development to support complex, flexible cognitive processes in adulthood.

Lateralization in intrinsic functional connectivity of the temporoparietal junction with salience- and attention-related brain networks

“…These TPJ seeds overlapped with spatial clusters previously reported to be part of the salience network (Seeley et al 2007;Weissman-Fogel et al 2010;Yeo et al 2011). The seeds were converted to each individual's functional scan space using the affine transformation matrices obtained with FLIRT.…”

“…1A). Consistent with previous reports (Habas et al 2009;Seeley et al 2007;Weissman-Fogel et al 2010) and meeting our definition criteria, this component included the bilateral aINS, dlPFC (BA 46), and MCC (BA 24). In addition, this component included the TPJ (BA 40/22/39), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC; BA 23), cuneus (BA 17), right putamen, and right cerebellum (predominantly lobule VI/crus I).…”

“…We then interrogated 25 components to identify the salience/ventral attention network. We limited the number of output components to 25 because previous studies suggest that this number of components should be suitable for identifying the salience network (Habas et al 2009;Shirer et al 2012;Uddin et al 2011). The components were visually inspected to identify the salience/ ventral attention network as a component that included the aINS, MCC, and dlPFC after stringent thresholding at Z Ͼ 4.6.…”

“…Using the time courses of the right TPJ and ventral frontal cortex for seed-based correlation analysis, Fox et al (2006) showed that the ventral attention network exhibits functional connectivity at rest in a predominantly (but not exclusively) right-lateralized fashion. Other reports, using ICA, have shown that bilateral regions within the vicinity of the TPJ are part of the "salience network," which includes the aINS, ventral frontal cortex, mid-cingulate cortex (MCC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) (Seeley et al 2007;Weissman-Fogel et al 2010). The connectivity of the TPJ with these bilateral regions was confirmed in an rs-fMRI study using a clustering approach in a very large subject sample (N ϭ 1,000) (Yeo et al 2011).…”

Wavelet coherence-based classifier: A resting-state functional MRI study on neurodynamics in adolescents with high-functioning autism

“…Indeed, the ventral stream encompassed the ventral part of the more frequently mentioned attentional network and partially (insular nodes) the salient network. Those two networks have been shown to have an important role in attention, and the dynamic switch between attention and executive control processes [29,34] . Interestingly, the FPL and FPR involve language-related cognitive functions and perception-somesthetic functions, which are functions that can be impaired in ASD.…”