Abstract
Human adolescence is a period of rapid changes in cognition and goal-directed behavior, and it constitutes a major transitional phase towards adulthood. One of the mechanisms suggested to underlie the protracted maturation of functional brain networks, is the increased network integration and segregation enhancing neural efficiency. Importantly, the increasing coordinated network interplay throughout development is mediated through functional hubs, which are highly connected brain areas suggested to be pivotal nodes for the regulation of neural activity. To elucidate brain hub development during childhood and adolescence, we estimated voxel-wise eigenvector centrality (EC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from two different psychological contexts (resting state and a working memory task), in a large cross-sectional sample (n = 754) spanning the age from 8 to 22 years, and decomposed the maps using independent component analysis (ICA). Our results reveal significant age-related centrality differences in cingulo-opercular, visual, and sensorimotor network nodes during both rest and task performance, suggesting that common neurodevelopmental processes manifest across different mental states. Supporting the functional significance of these developmental patterns, the centrality of the cingulo-opercular node was positively associated with task performance. These findings provide evidence for protracted maturation of hub properties in specific nodes of the brain connectome during the course of childhood and adolescence and suggest that cingulo-opercular centrality is a key factor supporting neurocognitive development.
Footnotes
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
This work was supported by Research Council of Norway Grants 223273 and 249795; South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority Grants 2014097, 2015044, 2015073, and 2016083; and the Norwegian ExtraFoundation for Health and Rehabilitation. Support for the collection of the data sets was provided by the two grants RC2MH089983 awarded to R. Gur and RC2MH089924 awarded to H. Hakonarson.
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