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Updated: Apr 26, 2026
Cerebral Blood Flow-Based Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Human Brain using Optical Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2020
Reduced brain resting-state network specificity in infants compared with adults
Korey P Wylie1, Donald C Rojas1, Randal G Ross1
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
Insights
Infant brain networks show less specific connections and more communication between networks compared to adults. This suggests brain development involves increasing specialization with experience.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- Infant resting-state networks differ from those in adults.
- Brain development theories emphasize increasing regional and network specialization.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare functional connectivity in infant and adult resting-state networks.
- Investigate developmental changes in network specificity and internetwork communication.
Main Methods:
- Acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 infants and 17 adults.
- Utilized independent components analysis (ICA) to extract resting-state networks.
- Compared network components between infant and adult groups.
Main Results:
- Adults showed stronger default mode network connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex.
- Infants exhibited higher connectivity in medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex.
- Infants displayed significantly higher internetwork communication than adults.
Conclusions:
- Infant resting-state network development is characterized by increasing spatial specificity.
- This developmental trajectory likely reflects functional specialization through experience.
- Findings support theories of progressive specialization in brain networks during development.
Purpose:
Infant resting-state networks do not exhibit the same connectivity patterns as those of young children and adults. Current theories of brain development emphasize developmental progression in regional and network specialization. We compared infant and adult functional connectivity, predicting that infants would exhibit less regional specificity and greater internetwork communication compared with adults.
Patients And Methods:
Functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest was acquired in 12 healthy, term infants and 17 adults. Resting-state networks were extracted, using independent components analysis, and the resulting components were then compared between the adult and infant groups.
Results:
Adults exhibited stronger connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex node of the default mode network, but infants had higher connectivity in medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex than adults. Adult connectivity was typically higher than infant connectivity within structures previously associated with the various networks, whereas infant connectivity was frequently higher outside of these structures. Internetwork communication was significantly higher in infants than in adults.
Conclusion:
We interpret these findings as consistent with evidence suggesting that resting-state network development is associated with increasing spatial specificity, possibly reflecting the corresponding functional specialization of regions and their interconnections through experience.
