Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Studying Brain Function in Children Using Magnetoencephalography
Published on: April 8, 2019
Behavioral Heterogeneity in Relation with Brain Functional Networks in Young Children
Chong-Yaw Wee1, Joann S Poh2, Qiang Wang1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Imaging Research Center, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Abstract:
This study aimed to identify distinct behavioral profiles in a population-based sample of 654 4-year-old children and characterize their relationships with brain functional networks using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Young children showed 7 behavioral profiles, including a super healthy behavioral profile with the lowest scores across all Child Behavior CheckList (CBCL) subscales (G1) and other 6 behavioral profiles, respectively with pronounced withdrawal (G2), somatic complaints (G3), anxiety and withdrawal (G4), somatic complaints and withdrawal (G5), the mixture of emotion, withdrawal, and aggression (G6), and attention (G7) problems. Compared with children in G1, children with withdrawal shared abnormal functional connectivities among the sensorimotor networks. Children in emotionally relevant problems shared the common pattern among the attentional and frontal networks. Nevertheless, children in sole withdrawal problems showed a unique pattern of connectivity alterations among the sensorimotor, cerebellar, and salience networks. Children with somatic complaints showed abnormal functional connectivities between the attentional and subcortical networks, and between the language and posterior default mode networks. This study provides novel evidence on the existence of behavioral heterogeneity in early childhood and its associations with specific functional networks that are clinically relevant phenotypes for mental illness and are apparent from early childhood.
Related Concept Videos
Network Function of a Circuit
Protein Networks
These interactions can be represented through maps depicting protein-protein interaction networks, represented as nodes and edges. Nodes are circles that are representative of a protein,...
Network Covalent Solids
To break or to melt a covalent network solid, covalent bonds must be broken. Because covalent bonds are relatively strong, covalent network solids are typically...
Functional Brain Systems: Limbic System
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
What is Behavior?

