Fetal behavior during MRI changes with age and relates to network dynamics.

Fetal motor behavior is an important clinical indicator of healthy development. However, our understanding of associations between fetal behavior and fetal brain development is limited. To fill this gap, this study introduced an approach to automatically and objectively classify long durations of fetal movement from a continuous four-dimensional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data set, and paired behavior features with brain activity indicated by the fMRI time series. Twelve-minute fMRI scans were conducted in 120 normal fetuses. Postnatal motor function was evaluated at 7 and 36 months age. Fetal motor behavior was quantified by calculating the frame-wise displacement (FD) of fetal brains extracted by a deep-learning model along the whole time series. Analyzing only low motion data, we characterized the recurring coactivation patterns (CAPs) of the supplementary motor area (SMA). Results showed reduced motor activity with advancing gestational age (GA), likely due in part to loss of space (r = -.51, p < .001). Evaluation of individual variation in motor movement revealed a negative association between movement and the occurrence of coactivations within the left parietotemporal network, controlling for age and sex (p = .003). Further, we found that the occurrence of coactivations between the SMA to posterior brain regions, including visual cortex, was prospectively associated with postnatal motor function at 7 months (r = .43, p = .03). This is the first study to pair fetal movement and fMRI, highlighting potential for comparisons of fetal behavior and neural network development to enhance our understanding of fetal brain organization.

Effects of prenatal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection on infant attention and socioemotional development.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered the psychosocial environment of pregnant women and new mothers. In addition, prenatal infection is a known risk factor for altered fetal development. Here we examine joint effects of maternal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection during pregnancy on infant attention at 6 months postpartum. METHOD: One-hundred and sixty-seven pregnant mothers and infants (40% non-White; n = 71 females) were recruited in New York City (n = 50 COVID+, n = 117 COVID-). Infants' attentional processing was assessed at 6 months, and socioemotional function and neurodevelopmental risk were evaluated at 12 months. RESULTS: Maternal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection during pregnancy jointly predicted infant attention at 6 months. In mothers reporting positive COVID-19 infection, higher prenatal psychosocial stress was associated with lower infant attention at 6 months. Exploratory analyses indicated that infant attention in turn predicted socioemotional function and neurodevelopmental risk at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that maternal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection during pregnancy may have joint effects on infant attention at 6 months. This work adds to a growing literature on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant development, and may point to maternal psychosocial stress as an important target for intervention. IMPACT: This study found that elevated maternal psychosocial stress and COVID-19 infection during pregnancy jointly predicted lower infant attention scores at 6 months, which is a known marker of risk for neurodevelopmental disorder. In turn, infant attention predicted socioemotional function and risk for neurodevelopmental disorder at 12 months. These data suggest that maternal psychosocial stress may modulate the effects of gestational infection on neurodevelopment and highlight malleable targets for intervention.

Maternal perceived stress and infant behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Maternal stress has negative consequences on infant behavioral development, and COVID-19 presented uniquely stressful situations to mothers of infants born during the pandemic. We hypothesized that mothers with higher levels of perceived stress during the pandemic would report higher levels of infant regulatory problems including crying and interrupted sleep patterns. METHODS: As part 6 sites of a longitudinal study, mothers of infants born during the pandemic completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire, and an Infant Crying survey at 6 (n = 433) and 12 (n = 344) months of infant age. RESULTS: Maternal perceived stress, which remained consistent at 6 and 12 months of infant age, was significantly positively correlated with time taken to settle infants. Although maternal perceived stress was not correlated with uninterrupted sleep length, time taken to put the infant to sleep was correlated. Perceived stress was also correlated with the amount of infant crying and fussiness reported at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers who reported higher levels of perceived stress during the pandemic reported higher levels of regulatory problems, specifically at 6 months. Examining how varying levels of maternal stress and infant behaviors relate to overall infant developmental status over time is an important next step. IMPACT: Women giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic who reported higher levels of stress on the Perceived Stress Scale also reported higher levels of infant fussiness and crying at 6 months old, and more disruptive sleep patterns in their infants at 6 months and 12 months old. Sleeping problems and excessive crying in infancy are two regulatory problems that are known risk factors for emotional and behavioral issues in later childhood. This paper is one of the first studies highlighting the associations between maternal stress and infant behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OWLET: An automated, open-source method for infant gaze tracking using smartphone and webcam recordings.

Groundbreaking insights into the origins of the human mind have been garnered through the study of eye movements in preverbal subjects who are unable to explain their thought processes. Developmental research has largely relied on in-lab testing with trained experimenters. This constraint provides a narrow window into infant cognition and impedes large-scale data collection in families from diverse socioeconomic, geographic, and cultural backgrounds. Here we introduce a new open-source methodology for automatically analyzing infant eye-tracking data collected on personal devices in the home. Using algorithms from computer vision, machine learning, and ecological psychology, we develop an online webcam-linked eye tracker (OWLET) that provides robust estimation of infants' point of gaze from smartphone and webcam recordings of infant assessments in the home. We validate OWLET in a large sample of 7-month-old infants (N = 127) tested remotely, using an established visual attention task. We show that this new method reliably estimates infants' point-of-gaze across a variety of contexts, including testing on both computers and mobile devices, and exhibits excellent external validity with parental-report measures of attention. Our platform fills a significant gap in current tools available for rapid online data collection and large-scale assessments of cognitive processes in infants. Remote assessment addresses the need for greater diversity and accessibility in human studies and may support the ecological validity of behavioral experiments. This constitutes a critical and timely advance in a core domain of developmental research and in psychological science more broadly.

Geotemporal analysis of perinatal care changes and maternal mental health: an example from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our primary objective was to document COVID-19 induced changes to perinatal care across the USA and examine the implication of these changes for maternal mental health. We performed an observational cross-sectional study with convenience sampling using direct patient reports from 1918 postpartum and 3868 pregnant individuals collected between April 2020 and December 2020 from 10 states across the USA. We leverage a subgroup of these participants who gave birth prior to March 2020 to estimate the pre-pandemic prevalence of specific birthing practices as a comparison. Our primary analyses describe the prevalence and timing of perinatal care changes, compare perinatal care changes depending on when and where individuals gave birth, and assess the linkage between perinatal care alterations and maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms. Seventy-eight percent of pregnant participants and 63% of postpartum participants reported at least one change to their perinatal care between March and August 2020. However, the prevalence and nature of specific perinatal care changes occurred unevenly over time and across geographic locations. The separation of infants and mothers immediately after birth and the cancelation of prenatal visits were associated with worsened depression and anxiety symptoms in mothers after controlling for sociodemographic factors, mental health history, number of pregnancy complications, and general stress about the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analyses reveal widespread changes to perinatal care across the US that fluctuated depending on where and when individuals gave birth. Disruptions to perinatal care may also exacerbate mental health concerns, so focused treatments that can mitigate the negative psychiatric sequelae of interrupted care are warranted.

Maternal caregiving representations of the infant in the first year of life: Associations with prenatal and concurrent reflective functioning.

Few studies have examined whether maternal caregiving representations are associated with maternal reflective functioning (MRF), especially when MRF is evaluated longitudinally beginning in pregnancy. This study addresses this gap by evaluating whether prenatal and postnatal MRF are associated with mothers' caregiving representations assessed at 7 months postpartum, and by exploring theoretically unexpected MRF scores in each of the representational categories. Forty-seven mothers were recruited during their last trimester of pregnancy from an obstetrics clinic at a university hospital located in a large mid-western city in the United States. During pregnancy, mothers completed the Pregnancy Interview, and at 7 months postpartum they completed the Parent Development Interview (PDI) and the Working Model of the Child Interview. Results indicate that higher prenatal and postnatal MRF increased the odds of being classified as balanced versus disengaged. At 7 months, MRF also increased the odds of being balanced vs. distorted. Ten mothers who were classified as balanced or distorted had unexpected prenatal MRF scores, and six mothers had unexpected MRF scores when representations were assessed concurrently. Mothers classified as balanced with low MRF scores tended to have a low level of education, whereas mothers classified as distorted with high MRF scores had responses that were hostile, helpless, and role-reversed.

Pocos estudios han examinado el hecho de si las representaciones maternas acerca del cuidado están asociadas con el funcionamiento reflexivo materno (MRF), especialmente cuando MRF se evalúa longitudinalmente comenzando en el embarazo. Este estudio aborda este vacío por medio de evaluar si el MRF prenatal y postnatal está asociado con las representaciones que las madres tienen de prestar el cuidado evaluadas a los 7 meses después del parto, y por medio de explorar teoréticamente los puntajes no esperados de MRF en cada categoría representativa. Se reclutaron cuarenta y siete madres durante su último trimestre de embarazo del hospital de una universidad localizado en una ciudad del medio oeste de los Estados Unidos. Durante el embarazo, las madres completaron la Entrevista de Embarazo y a los 7 meses después del parto ellas completaron la Entrevista del Desarrollo del Progenitor y el Modelo de Trabajo de la Entrevista del Niño. Los resultados indican que el más alto MRF prenatal y postnatal también aumentó las posibilidades de ser clasificada como equilibrada vs. indiferente. A los 7 meses, el MRF también aumentó las posibilidades de ser equilibrada vs. distorsionada. Diez madres a quienes se les clasificó como equilibradas o distorsionadas tuvieron puntajes de MRF prenatales no esperados, y seis madres tuvieron no esperados puntajes de MRF cuando las representaciones fueron evaluadas al mismo tiempo. Las madres a quienes se les clasificó como equilibradas con bajos puntajes de MRF tendían a tener un nivel bajo de educación, mientras que las madres a quienes se les clasificó como distorsionadas con puntajes altos de MRF tuvieron respuestas que eran hostiles, indefensas y de inversión de papeles.

Peu d'études ont examiné si les représentations du soin maternel sont liées au fonctionnement réflectif maternel (abrégé ici selon l'anglais maternal reflective functioning, soit MRF), surtout lorsque le MRF est évalué de manière longitudinale à commencer par la grossesse. Cette étude porte sur cet écart en évaluant si le MRF prénatal et postnatal est lié aux représentations du soin des mères évalué à 7 mois postpartum, et en explorant des scores MRF théoriquement inattendus dans chacune des catégories représentationnelles. Quarante-sept mères ont été recrutées durant leur dernier trimestre de grossesse dans un CHU situé dans une grande ville du centre des Etats-Unis. Durant la grossesse les mères ont passé l'Entretien de Grossesse et à 7 mois postpartum elles ont passé l'Entretien du Développement du Parent et le Modèle de Travail de l'Entretien de l'Enfant. Les résultats indiquent qu'un MRF prénatal et postnatal élevé augmentait les chances d'être classé comme équilibrée par rapport à désengagée. A 7 mois, le MRF augmentait aussi les chances d'être équilibrée par rapport à faussée. Dix mères qui ont été classées comme étant équilibrées ou faussées avaient des scores de MRF prénatal inattendus et six mères avaient des scores de MRF inattendu quand les représentations étaient évaluées en même temps. Les mères classées comme équilibrées avec des scores de MRF bas tendaient à avoir un niveau d'éducation plus bas, alors que les mères classées comme faussées avec des scores de MRF élevés ont fait preuve de réactions qui étaient hostiles, désemparées et de rôle inversé.

Maternal-fetal attachment, parenting stress during infancy, and child outcomes at age 3 years.

Maternal-fetal attachment (MFA), a woman's relationship with and affiliative behaviors toward her unborn child, has been linked to near-term infant physical and developmental outcomes. However, further longitudinal research is needed to understand whether the impact of MFA extends past the earliest years of life. The current study explored relationships between MFA and child socioemotional competence and behavior problems at age 3 and whether parenting stress mediated the association between MFA and child outcomes. Data were collected from 221 primarily Black/African-American mothers who completed a scale of MFA during pregnancy. Mothers reported on parenting stress at infant age 7 months and reported on child socioemotional competence and problem behaviors at child age 3 years. In path analyses, MFA was directly associated with child socioemotional competence at age 3 years, but an indirect association between MFA and socioemotional competence via parenting stress was not significant. We also observed a significant indirect association between lower MFA and child internalizing behavior problems via parenting stress that was related to maternal dissatisfaction regarding interactions with her child. Findings suggest that assessing MFA may serve as a means to identify dyads who would benefit from support to promote individual health outcomes.

La afectividad materno-fetal (MFA), la relación y comportamientos de afiliación de una mujer hacia su niño en el vientre, ha sido conectada a los resultados físicos y de desarrollo del infante cuya gestación está cerca al término. Sin embargo, se necesita investigación longitudinal adicional para comprender si el impacto de MFA se extiende más allá de los más tempranos años de vida. El presente estudio exploró las relaciones entre MFA y la competencia socioemocional y problemas de comportamiento del niño a la edad de 3 años y si el estrés de crianza medió la asociación entre MFA y los resultados en el niño. Se recogió información de 221 madres, primariamente negras/afroamericanas, que completaron una escala de MFA durante el embarazo. Las madres reportaron sobre el estrés de crianza cuando el infante tenía 7 meses y reportaron sobre la competencia socioemocional y los problemas de comportamiento del niño cuando éste tenía 3 años. En análisis de trayectoria, se asoció MFA directamente con la competencia socioemocional del niño a la edad de 3 años, pero una asociación indirecta entre MFA y la competencia socioemocional por medio del estrés de crianza no fue significativa. También observamos una significativa asociación indirecta entre MFA y la internalización de problemas del comportamiento por parte del niño vía el estrés de crianza que se relacionó con la insatisfacción materna en cuanto a las interacciones con su niño. Los resultados indican que evaluar MFA pudiera servir como un medio de identificar díadas que se beneficiarían del apoyo para promover resultados de salud individuales.

L'attachement maternel foetal (Maternal-fetal attachment, soit MFA), une relation de la femme avec son enfant à naître et des comportements affiliatifs envers l'enfant à naître, a été lié à des résultats physiques et développementaux du bébé quasiment à terme. Cependant des recherches longitudinales plus approfondies sont nécessaires afin de comprendre si l'impact du MFA dépasse les premières années de la vie. Cette étude a exploré les relations entre le MFA et la compétence socio-émotionnelle de l'enfant et les problèmes de comportement à l'âge de trois ans et si le stress de parentage affectait l'association entre le MFA et les résultats sur l'enfant. Les données ont été recueillies à partir de 221 mères américaines majoritairement noires/afro-américaines qui ont rempli l'échelle du MFA durant la grossesse. Les mères ont fait état de stress de parentage à l'âge de 7 mois pour le bébé et répondu à des questions sur la compétence socio-émotionnelle de l'enfant et les problèmes de comportement à l'âge de 3 ans. Dans les analyses de trajectoire le MFA était directement lié à la compétence socio-émotionnelle de l'enfant à l'âge de 3 ans, mais un lien indirect entre le MFA et la compétence socio-émotionnelle à travers le stress de parentage n'était pas important. Nous avons aussi observé un lien indirect important entre le MFA et les problèmes de comportement d'internalisation de l'enfant au travers du stress de parentage qui était lié à l'insatisfaction maternelle concernant les interactions avec son enfant. Les résultats suggèrent que l'évaluation du MFA peut servir de moyen d'identifier des dyades qui bénéficierait d'un soutien pour promouvoir des résultats de santé individuels.

An examination of maternal prenatal BMI and human fetal brain development.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal development is a time when the brain is acutely vulnerable to insult and alteration by environmental factors (e.g., toxins, maternal health). One important risk factor is maternal obesity (Body Mass Index > 30). Recent research indicates that high maternal BMI during pregnancy is associated with increased risk for numerous physical health, cognitive, and mental health problems in offspring across the lifespan. It is possible that heightened maternal prenatal BMI influences the developing brain even before birth. METHODS: The present study examines this possibility at the level of macrocircuitry in the human fetal brain. Using a data-driven strategy for parcellating the brain into subnetworks, we test whether MRI functional connectivity within or between fetal neural subnetworks varies with maternal prenatal BMI in 109 fetuses between the ages of 26 and 39weeks. RESULTS: We discovered that strength of connectivity between two subnetworks, left anterior insula/inferior frontal gyrus (aIN/IFG) and bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), varied with maternal BMI. At the level of individual aIN/IFG-PFC connections, we observed both increased and decreased between-network connectivity with a tendency for increased within-hemisphere connectivity and reduced cross-hemisphere connectivity in higher BMI pregnancies. Maternal BMI was not associated with global differences in network topography based on network-based statistical analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Overall effects were localized in regions that will later support behavioral regulation and integrative processes, regions commonly associated with obesity-related deficits. By establishing onset in neural differences prior to birth, this study supports a model in which maternal BMI-related risk is associated with fetal connectome-level brain organization with implications for offspring long-term cognitive development and mental health.

Functional Connectome of the Fetal Brain.

Large-scale functional connectome formation and reorganization is apparent in the second trimester of pregnancy, making it a crucial and vulnerable time window in connectome development. Here we identified which architectural principles of functional connectome organization are initiated before birth, and contrast those with topological characteristics observed in the mature adult brain. A sample of 105 pregnant women participated in human fetal resting-state fMRI studies (fetal gestational age between 20 and 40 weeks). Connectome analysis was used to analyze weighted network characteristics of fetal macroscale brain wiring. We identified efficient network attributes, common functional modules, and high overlap between the fetal and adult brain network. Our results indicate that key features of the functional connectome are present in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Understanding the organizational principles of fetal connectome organization may bring opportunities to develop markers for early detection of alterations of brain function.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The fetal to neonatal period is well known as a critical stage in brain development. Rapid neurodevelopmental processes establish key functional neural circuits of the human brain. Prenatal risk factors may interfere with early trajectories of connectome formation and thereby shape future health outcomes. Recent advances in MRI have made it possible to examine fetal brain functional connectivity. In this study, we evaluate the network topography of normative functional network development during connectome genesis in utero Understanding the developmental trajectory of brain connectivity provides a basis for understanding how the prenatal period shapes future brain function and disease dysfunction.

Impact of maternal childhood trauma on child behavioral problems: The role of child frontal alpha asymmetry.

Childhood trauma is associated with many long-term negative outcomes, and is not limited to the individual experiencing the trauma, but extends to subsequent generations. However, mechanisms underlying the association between maternal childhood trauma and child psychopathology are not well understood. Here, we targeted frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential underlying factor of the relationship between maternal childhood trauma and child behavioral problems. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from (N = 45) children (Mean age = 57.9 months, SD = 3.13) during an eyes-closed paradigm in order to evaluate FAA. Mothers reported on their childhood trauma experiences using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and on their child's behavior using the child behavior checklist (CBCL). We found that maternal childhood trauma significantly predicted child total, internalizing, and externalizing behavior at age 5 years. We also observed a role for FAA such that it acted as a moderator, but not mediator, for behavioral problems. We found that children with relative more right/less left frontal activity were more at risk to develop behavioral problems when their mother had been exposed to trauma in her childhood. These results indicate that child frontal asymmetry may serve as a susceptibility marker for child behavioral problems.

Prenatal lead exposure impacts cross-hemispheric and long-range connectivity in the human fetal brain.

Lead represents a highly prevalent metal toxicant with potential to alter human biology in lasting ways. A population segment that is particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of lead exposure is the human fetus, as exposure events occurring before birth are linked to varied and long-ranging negative health and behavioral outcomes. An area that has yet to be addressed is the potential that lead exposure during pregnancy alters brain development even before an individual is born. Here, we combine prenatal lead exposure information extracted from newborn bloodspots with the human fetal brain functional MRI data to assess whether neural network connectivity differs between lead-exposed and lead-naïve fetuses. We found that neural connectivity patterns differed in lead-exposed and comparison groups such that fetuses that were not exposed demonstrated stronger age-related increases in cross-hemispheric connectivity, while the lead-exposed group demonstrated stronger age-related increases in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) to lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) connectivity. These are the first results to demonstrate metal toxicant-related alterations in human fetal neural connectivity. Remarkably, the findings point to alterations in systems that support higher-order cognitive and regulatory functions. Objectives for future work are to replicate these results in larger samples and to test the possibility that these alterations may account for significant variation in future child cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

Amygdala habituation and uncinate fasciculus connectivity in adolescence: A multi-modal approach.

Despite prior extensive investigations of the interactions between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, few studies have simultaneously considered activation and structural connectivity in this circuit, particularly as it pertains to adolescent socioemotional development. The current multi-modal study delineated the correspondence between uncinate fasciculus (UF) connectivity and amygdala habituation in a large adolescent sample that was drawn from a population-based sample. We then examined the influence of demographic variables (age, gender, and pubertal status) on the relation between UF connectivity and amygdala habituation. 106 participants (15-17 years) completed DTI and an fMRI emotional face processing task. Left UF fractional anisotropy was associated with left amygdala habituation to fearful faces, suggesting that increased structural connectivity of the UF may facilitate amygdala regulation. Pubertal status moderated this structure-function relation, such that the association was stronger in those who were less mature. Therefore, UF connectivity may be particularly important for emotion regulation during early puberty. This study is the first to link structural and functional limbic circuitry in a large adolescent sample with substantial representation of ethnic minority participants, providing a more comprehensive understanding of socioemotional development in an understudied population.

Socioeconomic disadvantage and altered corticostriatal circuitry in urban youth.

Socioeconomic disadvantage (SED) experienced in early life is linked to a range of risk behaviors and diseases. Neuroimaging research indicates that this association is mediated by functional changes in corticostriatal reward systems that modulate goal-directed behavior, reward evaluation, and affective processing. Existing research has focused largely on adults and within-household measures as an index of SED, despite evidence that broader community-level SED (e.g., neighborhood poverty levels) has significant and sometimes distinct effects on development and health outcomes. Here, we test effects of both household- and community-level SED on resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the ventral striatum (VS) in 100 racially and economically diverse children and adolescents (ages 6-17). We observed unique effects of household income and community SED on VS circuitry such that higher community SED was associated with reduced rsFC between the VS and an anterior region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), whereas lower household income was associated with increased rsFC between the VS and the cerebellum, inferior temporal lobe, and lateral prefrontal cortex. Lower VS-mPFC rsFC was also associated with higher self-reported anxiety symptomology, and rsFC mediated the link between community SED and anxiety. These results indicate unique effects of community-level SED on corticostriatal reward circuitry that can be detected in early life, which carries implications for future interventions and targeted therapies. In addition, our findings raise intriguing questions about the distinct pathways through which specific sources of SED can affect brain and emotional development.

What's parenting got to do with it: emotional autonomy and brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in children and adolescents.

Healthy parenting may be protective against the development of emotional psychopathology, particularly for children reared in stressful environments. Little is known, however, about the brain and behavioral mechanisms underlying this association, particularly during childhood and adolescence, when emotional disorders frequently emerge. Here, we demonstrate that psychological control, a parenting strategy known to limit socioemotional development in children, is associated with altered brain and behavioral responses to emotional conflict in 27 at-risk (urban, lower income) youth, ages 9-16. In particular, youth reporting higher parental psychological control demonstrated lower activity in the left anterior insula, a brain area involved in emotion conflict processing, and submitted faster but less accurate behavioral responses-possibly reflecting an avoidant pattern. Effects were not replicated for parental care, and did not generalize to an analogous nonemotional conflict task. We also find evidence that behavioral responses to emotional conflict bridge the previously reported link between parental overcontrol and anxiety in children. Effects of psychological control may reflect a parenting style that limits opportunities to practice self-regulation when faced with emotionally charged situations. Results support the notion that parenting strategies that facilitate appropriate amounts of socioemotional competence and autonomy in children may be protective against social and emotional difficulties.

Prenatal neural origins of infant motor development: Associations between fetal brain and infant motor development.

Functional circuits of the human brain emerge and change dramatically over the second half of gestation. It is possible that variation in neural functional system connectivity in utero predicts individual differences in infant behavioral development, but this possibility has yet to be examined. The current study examines the association between fetal sensorimotor brain system functional connectivity and infant postnatal motor ability. Resting-state functional connectivity data was obtained in 96 healthy human fetuses during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Infant motor ability was measured 7 months after birth using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Increased connectivity between the emerging motor network and regions of the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes, posterior cingulate, and supplementary motor regions was observed in infants that showed more mature motor functions. In addition, females demonstrated stronger fetal-brain to infant-behavior associations. These observations extend prior longitudinal research back into prenatal brain development and raise exciting new ideas about the advent of risk and the ontogeny of early sex differences.

Dynamic functional connectivity of neurocognitive networks in children.

The human brain is highly dynamic, supporting a remarkable range of cognitive abilities that emerge over the course of development. While flexible and dynamic coordination between neural systems is firmly established for children, our understanding of brain functional organization in early life has been built largely on the implicit assumption that functional connectivity (FC) is static. Understanding the nature of dynamic neural interactions during development is a critical issue for cognitive neuroscience, with implications for neurodevelopmental pathologies that involve anomalies in brain connectivity. In this work, FC dynamics of neurocognitive networks in a sample of 146 youth from varied sociodemographic backgrounds were delineated. Independent component analysis, sliding time window correlation, and k-means clustering were applied to resting-state fMRI data. Results revealed six dynamic FC states that re-occur over time and that complement, but significantly extend, measures of static FC. Moreover, the occurrence and amount of time spent in specific FC states are related to the content of self-generated thought during the scan. Additionally, some connections are more variable over time than are others, including those between inferior parietal lobe and precuneus. These regions contribute to multiple networks and likely play a role in adaptive processes in childhood. Age-related increases in temporal variability of FC among neurocognitive networks were also found. Taken together, these findings lay the groundwork for understanding how variation in the developing chronnectome is related to risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. Understanding how brain systems reconfigure with development should provide insight into the ontogeny of complex, flexible cognitive processes. Hum Brain Mapp 38:97-108, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science.

The last decades of neuroscience research have produced immense progress in the methods available to understand brain structure and function. Social, cognitive, clinical, affective, economic, communication, and developmental neurosciences have begun to map the relationships between neuro-psychological processes and behavioral outcomes, yielding a new understanding of human behavior and promising interventions. However, a limitation of this fast moving research is that most findings are based on small samples of convenience. Furthermore, our understanding of individual differences may be distorted by unrepresentative samples, undermining findings regarding brain-behavior mechanisms. These limitations are issues that social demographers, epidemiologists, and other population scientists have tackled, with solutions that can be applied to neuroscience. By contrast, nearly all social science disciplines, including social demography, sociology, political science, economics, communication science, and psychology, make assumptions about processes that involve the brain, but have incorporated neural measures to differing, and often limited, degrees; many still treat the brain as a black box. In this article, we describe and promote a perspective--population neuroscience--that leverages interdisciplinary expertise to (i) emphasize the importance of sampling to more clearly define the relevant populations and sampling strategies needed when using neuroscience methods to address such questions; and (ii) deepen understanding of mechanisms within population science by providing insight regarding underlying neural mechanisms. Doing so will increase our confidence in the generalizability of the findings. We provide examples to illustrate the population neuroscience approach for specific types of research questions and discuss the potential for theoretical and applied advances from this approach across areas.

Interactive effects of BDNF Val66Met genotype and trauma on limbic brain anatomy in childhood.

Childhood trauma is a major precipitating factor in psychiatric disease. Emerging data suggest that stress susceptibility is genetically determined, and that risk is mediated by changes in limbic brain circuitry. There is a need to identify markers of disease vulnerability, and it is critical that these markers be investigated in childhood and adolescence, a time when neural networks are particularly malleable and when psychiatric disorders frequently emerge. In this preliminary study, we evaluated whether a common variant in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene (Val66Met; rs6265) interacts with childhood trauma to predict limbic gray matter volume in a sample of 55 youth high in sociodemographic risk. We found trauma-by-BDNF interactions in the right subcallosal area and right hippocampus, wherein BDNF-related gray matter changes were evident in youth without histories of trauma. In youth without trauma exposure, lower hippocampal volume was related to higher symptoms of anxiety. These data provide preliminary evidence for a contribution of a common BDNF gene variant to the neural correlates of childhood trauma among high-risk urban youth. Altered limbic structure in early life may lay the foundation for longer term patterns of neural dysfunction, and hold implications for understanding the psychiatric and psychobiological consequences of traumatic stress on the developing brain.

Age-related changes in the structure and function of prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuitry in children and adolescents: a multi-modal imaging approach.

The uncinate fasciculus is a major white matter tract that provides a crucial link between areas of the human brain that underlie emotion processing and regulation. Specifically, the uncinate fasciculus is the major direct fiber tract that connects the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The aim of the present study was to use a multi-modal imaging approach in order to simultaneously examine the relation between structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus and functional activation of the amygdala in a youth sample (children and adolescents). Participants were 9 to 19years old and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results indicate that greater structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus predicts reduced amygdala activation to sad and happy faces. This effect is moderated by age, with younger participants exhibiting a stronger relation. Further, decreased amygdala activation to sad faces predicts lower internalizing symptoms. These results provide important insights into brain structure-function relationships during adolescence, and suggest that greater structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus may facilitate regulation of the amygdala, particularly during early adolescence. These findings also have implications for understanding the relation between brain structure, function, and the development of emotion regulation difficulties, such as internalizing symptoms.

MR venography of the fetal brain using susceptibility weighted imaging.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of performing fetal brain magnetic resonance venography using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: After obtaining informed consent, pregnant women in the second and third trimester were imaged using a modified SWI sequence. Fetal SWI acquisition was repeated when fetal or maternal motion was encountered. The median and maximum number of times an SWI sequence was repeated was four and six respectively. All SWI image data were systematically evaluated by a pediatric neuroradiologist for image quality using an ordinal scoring scheme: 1. diagnostic; 2. diagnostic with artifacts; and 3. nondiagnostic. The best score in an individual fetus was used for further statistical analysis. Visibility of venous vasculature was also scored using a dichotomous variable. A subset of SWI data was re-evaluated by the first and independently by a second pediatric neuroradiologist. Kappa coefficients were computed to assess intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. RESULTS: SWI image data from a total of 22 fetuses were analyzed. Median gestational age and interquartile range of the fetuses imaged were 32 (29.9-34.9) weeks. In 68.2% of the cases (n = 15), there was no artifact; 22.7% (n = 5) had minor artifacts and 9.1% (n = 2) of the data was of nondiagnostic quality. Cerebral venous vasculature was visible in 86.4% (n = 19) of the cases. Substantial agreement (Kappa = 0.73; 95% confidence interval 0.44-1.00)) was observed for intra-rater reliability and moderate agreement (Kappa = 0.48; 95% confidence interval 0.19-0.77) was observed for inter-rater reliability. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to perform fetal brain venography in humans using SWI.