
==== Front
bioRxiv
BIORXIV
bioRxiv
2692-8205
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.09.09.612056
preprint
1
Article
Early Life Neuroimaging: The Generalizability of Cortical Area Parcellations Across Development
Tu Jiaxin Cindy http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-9890

Myers Michael
Li Wei
Li Jiaqi
Wang Xintian
Dierker Donna
Day Trevor K. M.
Snyder Abraham Z.
Latham Aidan
Kenley Jeanette K.
Sobolewski Chloe M.
Wang Yu
Labonte Alyssa K.
Feczko Eric
Kardan Omid
Moore Lucille A.
Sylvester Chad M.
Fair Damien A.
Elison Jed T.
Warner Barbara B. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9910-4461

Barch Deanna M.
Rogers Cynthia E.
Luby Joan L.
Smyser Christopher D.
Gordon Evan M.
Laumann Timothy O.
Eggebrecht Adam T.
Wheelock Muriah D.
11 9 2024
2024.09.09.612056https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
http://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.09.09.612056
nihpp-2024.09.09.612056.pdf
Abstract

The cerebral cortex comprises discrete cortical areas that form during development. Accurate area parcellation in neuroimaging studies enhances statistical power and comparability across studies. The formation of cortical areas is influenced by intrinsic embryonic patterning as well as extrinsic inputs, particularly through postnatal exposure. Given the substantial changes in brain volume, microstructure, and functional connectivity during the first years of life, we hypothesized that cortical areas in 1-to-3-year-olds would exhibit major differences from those in neonates and progressively resemble adults as development progresses.

Here, we parcellated the cerebral cortex into putative areas using local functional connectivity gradients in 92 toddlers at 2 years old. We demonstrated high reproducibility of these cortical regions across 1-to-3-year-olds in two independent datasets. The area boundaries in 1-to-3-year-olds were more similar to adults than neonates. While the age-specific group parcellation fitted better to the underlying functional connectivity in individuals during the first 3 years, adult area parcellations might still have some utility in developmental studies, especially in children older than 6 years. Additionally, we provided connectivity-based community assignments of the parcels, showing fragmented anterior and posterior components based on the strongest connectivity, yet alignment with adult systems when weaker connectivity was included.
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