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Updated: Aug 20, 2026
Scanning Dos and Don'ts: Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Children Aged 3 to 5 Years to Assess Brain Structure and Function
Published on: March 10, 2026
BOLD fMRI signal increases with age in selected brain regions in children
Mark B Schapiro1, Vince J Schmithorst, Marko Wilke
1Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Research Foundation, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA. schx5o@chmcc.org
Insights
The blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in functional MRI (fMRI) increases with age in children during language and sensorimotor tasks. This finding is crucial for understanding brain development and fMRI
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) relies on the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal to map brain activity.
- Understanding age-related changes in the BOLD signal is essential for interpreting fMRI studies in pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the age dependency of the BOLD signal in healthy children during specific cognitive and sensorimotor tasks.
- To identify brain regions where BOLD signal changes correlate with age.
Main Methods:
- fMRI scans were acquired from 332 healthy children aged 4.9 to 18.9 years.
- Participants performed language (verb generation, word-picture matching) and sensorimotor (finger tapping, image discrimination) tasks in a block design.
- Statistical analyses examined correlations between age and BOLD signal percent change in various brain regions.
Main Results:
- Significant positive correlations between age and BOLD signal were observed in language-related areas (e.g., Broca's, Wernicke's) during the verb generation task.
- BOLD signal increased with age in sensorimotor regions (e.g., precentral, postcentral) during the finger tapping task.
- Age-related BOLD signal increases were also noted in visual processing areas during the word-picture matching task.
Conclusions:
- The BOLD signal in fMRI demonstrates age-dependent increases in children across different task types.
- These findings highlight developmental trajectories in brain activation patterns during childhood.
- The study provides critical normative data for pediatric fMRI research.
Abstract:
To determine whether the BOLD signal used in fMRI is age dependent in childhood, 332 healthy children (age 4.9-18.9 years) performed tasks in a periodic block design during 3 T fMRI: (1) a verb generation task interleaved with a finger tapping task; (2) a word-picture matching task interleaved with an image discrimination task. Significant correlations between percent signal change in BOLD effect and age occurred in left Broca's, middle frontal, Wernicke's, and inferior parietal regions, and anterior cingulate during the verb generation task; in precentral, postcentral, middle frontal, supplementary motor, and precuneus regions during the finger tapping task; and in bilateral lingula gyri during the word-picture matching task. Thus, BOLD effect increases with age in children during sensorimotor and language tasks.
