Development of global cortical networks in early infancy

Human cognition and behaviors are subserved by global networks of neural mechanisms. Although the organization of the brain is a subject of interest, the process of development of global cortical networks in early infancy has not yet been clarified. In the present study, we explored developmental changes in these networks from several days to 6 months after birth by examining spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity, using multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy. We set up 94 measurement channels over the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital regions of the infant brain. The obtained signals showed complex time-series properties, which were characterized as 1/f fluctuations. To reveal the functional connectivity of the cortical networks, we calculated the temporal correlations of continuous signals between all the pairs of measurement channels. We found that the cortical network organization showed regional dependency and dynamic changes in the course of development. In the temporal, parietal, and occipital regions, connectivity increased between homologous regions in the two hemispheres and within hemispheres; in the frontal regions, it decreased progressively. Frontoposterior connectivity changed to a "U-shaped" pattern within 6 months: it decreases from the neonatal period to the age of 3 months and increases from the age of 3 months to the age of 6 months. We applied cluster analyses to the correlation coefficients and showed that the bilateral organization of the networks begins to emerge during the first 3 months of life. Our findings suggest that these developing networks, which form multiple clusters, are precursors of the functional cerebral architecture.