Dissociable Contributions of the Medial Parietal Cortex to Recognition Memory.

Human neuroimaging studies of episodic memory retrieval routinely observe the engagement of specific cortical regions beyond the medial temporal lobe. Of these, medial parietal cortex (MPC) is of particular interest given its distinct functional characteristics during different retrieval tasks. Specifically, while recognition and autobiographical recall tasks are both used to probe episodic retrieval, these paradigms consistently drive distinct spatial patterns of response within MPC. However, other studies have emphasized alternate MPC functional dissociations in terms of brain network connectivity profiles or stimulus category selectivity. As the unique contributions of MPC to episodic memory remain unclear, adjudicating between these different accounts can provide better consensus regarding MPC function. Therefore, we used a precision-neuroimaging dataset (7T functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine how MPC regions are differentially engaged during recognition memory and how these task-related dissociations may also reflect distinct connectivity and stimulus category functional profiles. We observed interleaved, though spatially distinct, subregions of MPC where responses were sensitive to either recognition decisions or the semantic representation of stimuli. In addition, this dissociation was further accentuated by functional subregions displaying distinct profiles of connectivity with the hippocampus during task and rest. Finally, we show that recent observations of dissociable person and place selectivity within the MPC reflect category-specific responses from within identified semantic regions that are sensitive to mnemonic demands. Together, by examining precision functional mapping within individuals, these data suggest that previously distinct observations of functional dissociation within MPC conform to a common principle of organization throughout hippocampal-neocortical memory systems.

Ultrahigh Field fMRI Reveals Different Roles of the Temporal and Frontoparietal Cortices in Subjective Awareness.

A central question in consciousness theories is whether one is dealing with a dichotomous ("all-or-none") or a gradual phenomenon. In this 7T fMRI study, we investigated whether dichotomy or gradualness in fact depends on the brain region associated with perceptual awareness reports. Both male and female human subjects performed an emotion discrimination task (fear vs neutral bodies) presented under continuous flash suppression with trial-based perceptual awareness measures. Behaviorally, recognition sensitivity increased linearly with increased stimuli awareness and was at chance level during perceptual unawareness. Physiologically, threat stimuli triggered a slower heart rate than neutral ones during "almost clear" stimulus experience, indicating freezing behavior. Brain results showed that activity in the occipitotemporal, parietal, and frontal regions as well as in the amygdala increased with increased stimulus awareness while early visual areas showed the opposite pattern. The relationship between temporal area activity and perceptual awareness best fitted a gradual model while the activity in frontoparietal areas fitted a dichotomous model. Furthermore, our findings illustrate that specific experimental decisions, such as stimulus type or the approach used to evaluate awareness, play pivotal roles in consciousness studies and warrant careful consideration.

Resting-state neural correlates of individual differences in ignored experience and its deleterious effect.

Uncovering the neural mechanisms of ostracism experience (including its subclasses of excluded and ignored experiences) is important. However, the resting-state functional brain substrates responsible for individual differences in ostracism experience and its negative effects remain largely undefined. This study explored these issues in a sample of 198 Chinese college students by assessing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and functional connectivity. The findings indicated a positive correlation between ignored experience and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in the right superior frontal gyrus and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and left cerebellum posterior lobe. Additionally, a negative correlation was found between ignored experience and the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and the bilateral insula as well as the bilateral inferior parietal lobule. Moreover, the mediation analysis demonstrated that the effects of the functional connectivities of right superior frontal gyrus-left cerebellum posterior lobe and right superior frontal gyrus-right inferior parietal lobule on revenge intention were mediated by ignored experience. Our study offers novel insights into the neural correlates of both individual variations in ignored experience and its typical deleterious effect. These results could deepen our understanding of individual differences in negative experiences and inspire the development of targeted interventions for social stress from the perspective of the brain.

Inferior parietal cortex represents relational structures for explicit transitive inference.

The human brain is distinguished by its ability to perform explicit logical reasoning like transitive inference. This study investigated the functional role of the inferior parietal cortex in transitive inference with functional MRI. Participants viewed premises describing abstract relations among items. They accurately recalled the relationship between old pairs of items, effectively inferred the relationship between new pairs of items, and discriminated between true and false relationships for new pairs. First, the inferior parietal cortex, but not the hippocampus or lateral prefrontal cortex, was associated with transitive inference. The inferior parietal activity and functional connectivity were modulated by inference (new versus old pairs) and discrimination (true versus false pairs). Moreover, the new/old and true/false pairs were decodable from the inferior parietal representation. Second, the inferior parietal cortex represented an integrated relational structure (ordered and directed series). The inferior parietal activity was modulated by serial position (larger end versus center pairs). The inferior parietal representation was modulated by symbolic distance (adjacent versus distant pairs) and direction (preceding versus following pairs). It suggests that the inferior parietal cortex may flexibly integrate observed relations into a relational structure and use the relational structure to infer unobserved relations and discriminate between true and false relations.

The sulci of the lateral superior parietal lobule: anatomical overview and nomenclatural consideration.

Discrepancies in the terminology describing sulcal structures within the lateral superior parietal lobule prompted our comprehensive investigation to clarify their morphology and nomenclature. We reviewed literature from the 19th century to the present, focusing on the intraparietal sulcus, interparietal sulcus, superior parietal sulcus, transverse parietal sulcus, paroccipital sulcus, and transverse occipital sulcus. Additionally, we analyzed neuroimaging data from 40 healthy young adults and two cadavers. Our investigation revealed that the original term intraparietal sulcus, introduced by Sir Turner, described a complex structure comprising the inferior segment of the postcentral sulcus, a horizontally extending component into the occipital lobe, and the transverse occipital sulcus. We also found that the superior parietal sulcus is often synonymous with transverse parietal sulcus, the sulcus of Brissaud is an eponym that shall describe the paroccipital sulcus's dorsal parietal ramus, and the transverse occipital sulcus is the combination of the occipital rami of the paroccipital sulcus. Additionally, we identified an unnamed transverse segment of the intraparietal sulcus, the intraparietal sulcus-transverse. Based on these observations, we consider that the sulci of the lateral superior parietal lobule primarily include the intraparietal sulcus, with longitudinal and transverse segments, the transverse parietal sulcus of Brissaud, and the paroccipital sulcus of Wilder.

Frontal pole-precuneus connectivity is associated with a discrepancy between self-rated and observer-rated depression severity in mood disorders: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Discrepancies in self-rated and observer-rated depression severity may underlie the basis for biological heterogeneity in depressive disorders and be an important predictor of outcomes and indicators to optimize intervention strategies. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this discrepancy have been understudied. This study aimed to examine the brain networks that represent the neural basis of the discrepancy between self-rated and observer-rated depression severity using resting-state functional MRI. To examine the discrepancy between self-rated and observer-rated depression severity, self- and observer-ratings discrepancy (SOD) was defined, and the higher and lower SOD groups were selected from depressed patients as participants showing extreme deviation. Resting-state functional MRI analysis was performed to examine regions with significant differences in functional connectivity in the two groups. The results showed that, in the higher SOD group compared to the lower SOD group, there was increased functional connectivity between the frontal pole and precuneus, both of which are subregions of the default mode network that have been reported to be associated with ruminative and self-referential thinking. These results provide insight into the association of brain circuitry with discrepancies between self- and observer-rated depression severity and may lead to more treatment-oriented diagnostic reclassification in the future.

Visuomotor prediction during action planning in the human frontoparietal cortex and cerebellum.

The concept of forward models in the brain, classically applied to describing on-line motor control, can in principle be extended to action planning, i.e. assuming forward sensory predictions are issued during the mere preparation of movements. To test this idea, we combined a delayed movement task with a virtual reality based manipulation of visuomotor congruence during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants executed simple hand movements after a delay. During the delay, two aspects of the upcoming movement could be cued: the movement type and the visuomotor mapping (i.e. congruence of executed hand movements and visual movement feedback by a glove-controlled virtual hand). Frontoparietal areas showed increased delay period activity when preparing pre-specified movements (cued > uncued). The cerebellum showed increased activity during the preparation for incongruent > congruent visuomotor mappings. The left anterior intraparietal sulcus showed an interaction effect, responding most strongly when a pre-specified (cued) movement was prepared under expected visuomotor incongruence. These results suggest that motor planning entails a forward prediction of visual body movement feedback, which can be adjusted in anticipation of nonstandard visuomotor mappings, and which is likely computed by the cerebellum and integrated with state estimates for (planned) control in the anterior intraparietal sulcus.

Changes in functional connectivity and structural covariance between the fronto-parietal network and medial orbitofrontal cortex are associated with disinhibition in restrained eaters.

Disinhibition, characterized by a loss of dietary control, is a significant risk factor for diet failure and the onset of eating disorders in restrained eaters. This study employs resting-state functional connectivity and structural covariance network analyses to explore the neural associations underlying this behavior. By analyzing functional MRI data from 63 female college students, we found that increased disinhibition correlates with enhanced functional connectivity between the medial orbitofrontal cortex and key components of the inhibition system, particularly within the fronto-parietal network. Moreover, we observed a relationship between the structural covariance of the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobule and the severity of disinhibition. Importantly, the functional connectivity between the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobule predicts the severity of binge eating symptoms in these individuals. These findings indicate that imbalances in the interaction between the brain's reward and inhibition systems can lead to dietary failures and eating disorders, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions.

Cortical Grey Matter Mediates Increases in Model-Based Control and Learning from Positive Feedback from Adolescence to Adulthood.

Cognition and brain structure undergo significant maturation from adolescence into adulthood. Model-based (MB) control is known to increase across development, which is mediated by cognitive abilities. Here, we asked two questions unaddressed in previous developmental studies. First, what are the brain structural correlates of age-related increases in MB control? Second, how are age-related increases in MB control from adolescence to adulthood influenced by motivational context? A human developmental sample (n = 103; age, 12-50, male/female, 55:48) completed structural MRI and an established task to capture MB control. The task was modified with respect to outcome valence by including (1) reward and punishment blocks to manipulate the motivational context and (2) an additional choice test to assess learning from positive versus negative feedback. After replicating that an age-dependent increase in MB control is mediated by cognitive abilities, we demonstrate first-time evidence that gray matter density (GMD) in the parietal cortex mediates the increase of MB control with age. Although motivational context did not relate to age-related changes in MB control, learning from positive feedback improved with age. Meanwhile, negative feedback learning showed no age effects. We present a first report that an age-related increase in positive feedback learning was mediated by reduced GMD in the parietal, medial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Our findings indicate that brain maturation, putatively reflected in lower GMD, in distinct and partially overlapping brain regions could lead to a more efficient brain organization and might thus be a key developmental step toward age-related increases in planning and value-based choice.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Changes in model-based decision-making are paralleled by extensive maturation in cognition and brain structure across development. Still, to date the neuroanatomical underpinnings of these changes remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that parietal GMD mediates age-dependent increases in model-based control. Age-related increases in positive feedback learning were mediated by reduced GMD in the parietal, medial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. A manipulation of motivational context did not have an impact on age-related changes in model-based control. These findings highlight that brain maturation in distinct and overlapping cortical regions constitutes a key developmental step toward improved value-based choices.

Grasping with a Twist: Dissociating Action Goals from Motor Actions in Human Frontoparietal Circuits.

In daily life, prehension is typically not the end goal of hand-object interactions but a precursor for manipulation. Nevertheless, functional MRI (fMRI) studies investigating manual manipulation have primarily relied on prehension as the end goal of an action. Here, we used slow event-related fMRI to investigate differences in neural activation patterns between prehension in isolation and prehension for object manipulation. Sixteen (seven males and nine females) participants were instructed either to simply grasp the handle of a rotatable dial (isolated prehension) or to grasp and turn it (prehension for object manipulation). We used representational similarity analysis (RSA) to investigate whether the experimental conditions could be discriminated from each other based on differences in task-related brain activation patterns. We also used temporal multivoxel pattern analysis (tMVPA) to examine the evolution of regional activation patterns over time. Importantly, we were able to differentiate isolated prehension and prehension for manipulation from activation patterns in the early visual cortex, the caudal intraparietal sulcus (cIPS), and the superior parietal lobule (SPL). Our findings indicate that object manipulation extends beyond the putative cortical grasping network (anterior intraparietal sulcus, premotor and motor cortices) to include the superior parietal lobule and early visual cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A simple act such as turning an oven dial requires not only that the CNS encode the initial state (starting dial orientation) of the object but also the appropriate posture to grasp it to achieve the desired end state (final dial orientation) and the motor commands to achieve that state. Using advanced temporal neuroimaging analysis techniques, we reveal how such actions unfold over time and how they differ between object manipulation (turning a dial) versus grasping alone. We find that a combination of brain areas implicated in visual processing and sensorimotor integration can distinguish between the complex and simple tasks during planning, with neural patterns that approximate those during the actual execution of the action.

Angular Gyrus Responses Show Joint Statistical Dependence with Brain Regions Selective for Different Categories.

Category selectivity is a fundamental principle of organization of perceptual brain regions. Human occipitotemporal cortex is subdivided into areas that respond preferentially to faces, bodies, artifacts, and scenes. However, observers need to combine information about objects from different categories to form a coherent understanding of the world. How is this multicategory information encoded in the brain? Studying the multivariate interactions between brain regions of male and female human subjects with fMRI and artificial neural networks, we found that the angular gyrus shows joint statistical dependence with multiple category-selective regions. Adjacent regions show effects for the combination of scenes and each other category, suggesting that scenes provide a context to combine information about the world. Additional analyses revealed a cortical map of areas that encode information across different subsets of categories, indicating that multicategory information is not encoded in a single centralized location, but in multiple distinct brain regions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Many cognitive tasks require combining information about entities from different categories. However, visual information about different categorical objects is processed by separate, specialized brain regions. How is the joint representation from multiple category-selective regions implemented in the brain? Using fMRI movie data and state-of-the-art multivariate statistical dependence based on artificial neural networks, we identified the angular gyrus encoding responses across face-, body-, artifact-, and scene-selective regions. Further, we showed a cortical map of areas that encode information across different subsets of categories. These findings suggest that multicategory information is not encoded in a single centralized location, but at multiple cortical sites which might contribute to distinct cognitive functions, offering insights to understand integration in a variety of domains.

Age-related Differences in Response Inhibition Are Mediated by Frontoparietal White Matter but Not Functional Activity.

Healthy older adults often exhibit lower performance but increased functional recruitment of the frontoparietal control network during cognitive control tasks. According to the cortical disconnection hypothesis, age-related changes in the microstructural integrity of white matter may disrupt inter-regional neuronal communication, which in turn can impair behavioral performance. Here, we use fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging to determine whether age-related differences in white matter microstructure contribute to frontoparietal over-recruitment and behavioral performance during a response inhibition (go/no-go) task in an adult life span sample (n = 145). Older and female participants were slower (go RTs) than younger and male participants, respectively. However, participants across all ages were equally accurate on the no-go trials, suggesting some participants may slow down on go trials to achieve high accuracy on no-go trials. Across the life span, functional recruitment of the frontoparietal network within the left and right hemispheres did not vary as a function of age, nor was it related to white matter fractional anisotropy (FA). In fact, only frontal FA and go RTs jointly mediated the association between age and no-go accuracy. Our results therefore suggest that frontal white matter cortical "disconnection" is an underlying driver of age-related differences in cognitive control, and white matter FA may not fully explain functional task-related activation in the frontoparietal network during the go/no-go task. Our findings add to the literature by demonstrating that white matter may be more important for certain cognitive processes in aging than task-related functional activation.

Memory traces of duration and location in the right intraparietal sulcus.

Time and space form an integral part of every human experience, and for the neuronal representation of these perceptual dimensions, previous studies point to the involvement of the right-hemispheric intraparietal sulcus and structures in the medial temporal lobe. Here we used multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate long-term memory traces for temporal and spatial stimulus features in those areas. Participants were trained on four images associated with short versus long durations and with left versus right locations. Our results demonstrate stable representations of both temporal and spatial information in the right posterior intraparietal sulcus. Building upon previous findings of stable neuronal codes for directly perceived durations and locations, these results show that the reactivation of long-term memory traces for temporal and spatial features can be decoded from neuronal activation patterns in the right parietal cortex.

Impaired olfactory identification in dementia-free individuals is associated with the functional abnormality of the precuneus.

OBJECTIVE: Olfactory dysfunction indicates a higher risk of developing dementia. However, the potential structural and functional changes are still largely unknown. METHODS: A total of 236 participants were enrolled, including 45 Alzheimer's disease (AD) individuals and 191dementia-free individuals. Detailed study methods, comprising neuropsychological assessment and olfactory identification test (University of Pennsylvania smell identification test, UPSIT), as well as structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were applied in this research. The dementia-free individuals were divided into two sub-groups based on olfactory score: dementia-free with olfactory dysfunction (DF-OD) sub-group and dementia-free without olfactory dysfunction (DF-NOD) sub-group. The results were analyzed for subsequent intergroup comparisons and correlations. The cognitive assessment was conducted again three years later. RESULTS: (i) At dementia-free stage, there was a positive correlation between olfactory score and cognitive function. (ii) In dementia-free group, the volume of crucial brain structures involved in olfactory recognition and processing (such as amygdala, entorhinal cortex and basal forebrain volumes) are positively associated with olfactory score. (iii) Compared to the DF-NOD group, the DF-OD group showed a significant reduction in olfactory network (ON) function. (iv) Compared to DF-NOD group, there were significant functional connectivity (FC) decline between PCun_L(R)_4_1 in the precuneus of posterior default mode network (pDMN) and the salience network (SN) in DF-OD group, and the FC values decreased with falling olfactory scores. Moreover, in DF-OD group, the noteworthy reduction in FC were observed between PCun_L(R)_4_1 and amygdala, which was a crucial component of ON. (v) The AD conversion rate of DF-OD was 29.41%, while the DF-NOD group was 12.50%. The structural and functional changes in the precuneus were also observed in AD and were more severe. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the olfactory circuit, the precuneus is a critical structure in the odor identification process, whose abnormal function underlies the olfactory identification impairment of dementia-free individuals.

Theta and alpha oscillations in human hippocampus and medial parietal cortex support the formation of location-based representations.

Our ability to navigate in a new environment depends on learning new locations. Mental representations of locations are quickly accessible during navigation and allow us to know where we are regardless of our current viewpoint. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research using pattern classification has shown that these location-based representations emerge in the retrosplenial cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, regions theorized to be critically involved in spatial navigation. However, little is currently known about the oscillatory dynamics that support the formation of location-based representations. We used magnetoencephalogram (MEG) recordings to investigate region-specific oscillatory activity in a task where participants could form location-based representations. Participants viewed videos showing that two perceptually distinct scenes (180° apart) belonged to the same location. This "overlap" video allowed participants to bind the two distinct scenes together into a more coherent location-based representation. Participants also viewed control "non-overlap" videos where two distinct scenes from two different locations were shown, where no location-based representation could be formed. In a post-video behavioral task, participants successfully matched the two viewpoints shown in the overlap videos, but not the non-overlap videos, indicating they successfully learned the locations in the overlap condition. Comparing oscillatory activity between the overlap and non-overlap videos, we found greater theta and alpha/beta power during the overlap relative to non-overlap videos, specifically at time-points when we expected scene integration to occur. These oscillations localized to regions in the medial parietal cortex (precuneus and retrosplenial cortex) and the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus. Therefore, we find that theta and alpha/beta oscillations in the hippocampus and medial parietal cortex are likely involved in the formation of location-based representations.

Fronto-parietal activity changes associated with changes in working memory load: Evidence from simultaneous electroencephalography and functional near-infrared spectroscopy analysis.

Working memory (WM) involves the capacity to maintain and manipulate information over short periods. Previous research has suggested that fronto-parietal activities play a crucial role in WM. However, there remains no agreement on the effect of working memory load (WML) on neural activities and haemodynamic responses. Here, our study seeks to examine the effect of WML through simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In this study, a delay change detection task was conducted on 23 healthy volunteers. The task included three levels: one item, three items and five items. The EEG and fNIRS were simultaneously recorded during the task. Neural activities and haemodynamic responses at prefrontal and parietal regions were analysed using time-frequency analysis and weighted phase-lag index (wPLI). We observed a significant enhancement in prefrontal and parietal ß suppression as WML increased. Furthermore, as WML increased, there was a notable enhancement in fronto-parietal connectivity (FPC), as evidenced by both EEG and fNIRS. Correlation analysis indicated that as WML increased, there was a potential for enhancement of neurovascular coupling (NVC) of FPC.

Online and offline effects of parietal 10 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on working memory in healthy controls.

Parietal alpha activity shows a specific pattern of phasic changes during working memory. It decreases during the encoding and recall phases but increases during the maintenance phase. This study tested whether online rTMS delivered to the parietal cortex during the maintenance phase of a working memory task would increase alpha activity and hence improve working memory. Then, 46 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups to receive 3-day parietal 10 Hz online rTMS (either real or sham, 3600 pulses in total) that were time-locked to the maintenance phase of a spatial span task (180 trials in total). Behavioral performance on another spatial span task and EEG signals during a change detection task were recorded on the day before the first rTMS (pretest) and the day after the last rTMS (posttest). We found that rTMS improved performance on both online and offline spatial span tasks. For the offline change detection task, rTMS enhanced alpha activity within the maintenance phase and improved interference control of working memory at both behavioral (K score) and neural (contralateral delay activity) levels. These results suggested that rTMS with alpha frequency time-locked to the maintenance phase is a promising way to boost working memory.

Have you been there before? Decoding recognition of spatial scenes from fMRI signals in precuneus.

One potential application of forensic "brain reading" is to test whether a suspect has previously experienced a crime scene. Here, we investigated whether it is possible to decode real life autobiographic exposure to spatial locations using fMRI. In the first session, participants visited four out of eight possible rooms on a university campus. During a subsequent scanning session, subjects passively viewed pictures and videos from these eight possible rooms (four old, four novel) without giving any responses. A multivariate searchlight analysis was employed that trained a classifier to distinguish between "seen" versus "unseen" stimuli from a subset of six rooms. We found that bilateral precuneus encoded information that can be used to distinguish between previously seen and unseen rooms and that also generalized to the two stimuli left out from training. We conclude that activity in bilateral precuneus is associated with the memory of previously visited rooms, irrespective of the identity of the room, thus supporting a parietal contribution to episodic memory for spatial locations. Importantly, we could decode whether a room was visited in real life without the need of explicit judgments about the rooms. This suggests that recognition is an automatic response that can be decoded from fMRI data, thus potentially supporting forensic applications of concealed information tests for crime scene recognition.

Frontoparietal and salience network synchronizations during nonsymbolic magnitude processing predict brain age and mathematical performance in youth.

The development and refinement of functional brain circuits crucial to human cognition is a continuous process that spans from childhood to adulthood. Research increasingly focuses on mapping these evolving configurations, with the aim to identify markers for functional impairments and atypical development. Among human cognitive systems, nonsymbolic magnitude representations serve as a foundational building block for future success in mathematical learning and achievement for individuals. Using task-based frontoparietal (FPN) and salience network (SN) features during nonsymbolic magnitude processing alongside machine learning algorithms, we developed a framework to construct brain age prediction models for participants aged 7-30. Our study revealed differential developmental profiles in the synchronization within and between FPN and SN networks. Specifically, we observed a linear increase in FPN connectivity, concomitant with a decline in SN connectivity across the age span. A nonlinear U-shaped trajectory in the connectivity between the FPN and SN was discerned, revealing reduced FPN-SN synchronization among adolescents compared to both pediatric and adult cohorts. Leveraging the Gradient Boosting machine learning algorithm and nested fivefold stratified cross-validation with independent training datasets, we demonstrated that functional connectivity measures of the FPN and SN nodes predict chronological age, with a correlation coefficient of .727 and a mean absolute error of 2.944 between actual and predicted ages. Notably, connectivity within the FPN emerged as the most contributing feature for age prediction. Critically, a more matured brain age estimate is associated with better arithmetic performance. Our findings shed light on the intricate developmental changes occurring in the neural networks supporting magnitude representations. We emphasize brain age estimation as a potent tool for understanding cognitive development and its relationship to mathematical abilities across the critical developmental period of youth. PRACTITIONER POINTS: This study investigated the prolonged changes in the brain's architecture across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, with a focus on task-state frontoparietal and salience networks. Distinct developmental pathways were identified: frontoparietal synchronization strengthens consistently throughout development, while salience network connectivity diminishes with age. Furthermore, adolescents show a unique dip in connectivity between these networks. Leveraging advanced machine learning methods, we accurately predicted individuals' ages based on these brain circuits, with a more mature estimated brain age correlating with better math skills.

Cerebellum and social abilities: A structural and functional connectivity study in a transdiagnostic sample.

The cerebellum has been involved in social abilities and autism. Given that the cerebellum is connected to the cortex via the cerebello-thalamo-cortical loop, the connectivity between the cerebellum and cortical regions involved in social interactions, that is, the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) has been studied in individuals with autism, who suffer from prototypical deficits in social abilities. However, existing studies with small samples of categorical, case-control comparisons have yielded inconsistent results due to the inherent heterogeneity of autism, suggesting that investigating how clinical dimensions are related to cerebellar-rTPJ functional connectivity might be more relevant. Therefore, our objective was to study the functional connectivity between the cerebellum and rTPJ, focusing on its association with social abilities from a dimensional perspective in a transdiagnostic sample. We analyzed structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) scans obtained during naturalistic films watching from a large transdiagnostic dataset, the Healthy Brain Network (HBN), and examined the association between cerebellum-rTPJ functional connectivity and social abilities measured with the social responsiveness scale (SRS). We conducted univariate seed-to-voxel analysis, multivariate canonical correlation analysis (CCA), and predictive support vector regression (SVR). We included 1404 subjects in the structural analysis (age: 10.516 ± 3.034, range: 5.822-21.820, 506 females) and 414 subjects in the functional analysis (age: 11.260 ± 3.318 years, range: 6.020-21.820, 161 females). Our CCA model revealed a significant association between cerebellum-rTPJ functional connectivity, full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and SRS scores. However, this effect was primarily driven by FSIQ as suggested by SVR and univariate seed-to-voxel analysis. We also demonstrated the specificity of the rTPJ and the influence of structural anatomy in this association. Our results suggest that there is a complex relationship between cerebellum-rTPJ connectivity, social performance and IQ. This relationship is specific to the cerebellum-rTPJ connectivity, and is largely related to structural anatomy in these two regions. PRACTITIONER POINTS: We analyzed cerebellum-right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) connectivity in a pediatric transdiagnostic sample. We found a complex relationship between cerebellum and rTPJ connectivity, social performance and IQ. Cerebellum and rTPJ functional connectivity is related to structural anatomy in these two regions.