PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Knut K. Kolskår
AU  - Dag Alnæs
AU  - Tobias Kaufmann
AU  - Geneviève Richard
AU  - Anne-Marthe Sanders
AU  - Kristine M. Ulrichsen
AU  - Torgeir Moberget
AU  - Ole A. Andreassen
AU  - Jan E. Nordvik
AU  - Lars T. Westlye
TI  - Key Brain Network Nodes Show Differential Cognitive Relevance and Developmental Trajectories during Childhood and Adolescence
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0092-18.2018
DP  - 2018 Jul 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0092-18.2018
VI  - 5
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/5/4/ENEURO.0092-18.2018.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/5/4/ENEURO.0092-18.2018.full
SO  - eNeuro2018 Jul 01; 5
AB  - 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.