Emergence of a synergistic scaffold in the brains of human infants

Abstract

The human brain is a complex organ comprising billions of interconnected neurons which enables interaction with both physical and social environments. Neural dynamics of the whole brain go far beyond just the sum of its individual elements; a property known as “synergy”. Previously it has been shown that synergy is crucial for many complex brain functions and cognition, however, it remains unknown how and when the large number of discrete neurons evolve into the unified system able to support synergistic interactions. Here we analysed high-density electroencephalography data from late fetal to early postnatal period. We found that the human brain transitions from redundancy-dominated to synergy-dominated system around birth. Frontal regions lead the emergence of a synergistic scaffold comprised of overlapping subsystems, while the integration of sensory areas developed gradually, from occipital to central regions. Strikingly, early developmental trajectories of brain synergy were modulated by environmental enrichment associated with enhanced mother-infant interactions, and the level of synergy near term equivalent age was associated with later neurocognitive development.