Structure–function coupling in the first month of life: Associations with age and attention

2025/06/02 by Ursula A. Tooley, Jeanette K. Kenley, M. Catalina Camacho +11 · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Medicine · #Functional Brain Connectivity Studies #Neural dynamics and brain function #Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications

paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.2412729122

openalex publication_date 2025/06/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

How brain structure relates to function is a critical and open question in neuroscience. Here, we characterize regional variation in structure–function coupling, capturing the degree to which a cortical region’s structural connections relate to patterns of coordinated neural activity in healthy, term-born neonates ( n = 239). Regional structure–function coupling is heterogeneously patterned across the cortex, with higher coupling in the auditory, lateral prefrontal, and inferior parietal cortices. Average structure–function coupling is negatively associated with age during the first month of life, with age-associated decreases seen in primary sensory systems, specifically in auditory and somatomotor regions. Age-associated “decoupling” of structure and function reflects increasingly segregated patterns of functional connectivity and increasingly integrated patterns of white matter connectivity with age. Notably, higher structure–function coupling after accounting for age in the dorsal attention, cingulo-opercular, and visual systems at birth is associated with faster visuospatial attention to faces at one year of age. These results yield valuable insight into the development of structural and functional connectivity across the cortex, including how interregional variation in structure–function coupling during the first month of life might shape later attention.

Citations

• The early development of brain white matter: A review of imaging studies in fetuses, newborns and infants
• Attention to the mouth and gaze following in infancy predict language development
• A review of diffusion MRI of typical white matter development from early childhood to young adulthood
• First-year development of modules and hubs in infant brain functional networks
• Linking Structure and Function in Macroscale Brain Networks
• Neurodevelopment of the association cortices: Patterns, mechanisms, and implications for psychopathology
• Decoupling of brain function from structure reveals regional behavioral specialization in humans
• Functional Alignment with Anatomical Networks is Associated with\n Cognitive Flexibility
• Modular Segregation of Structural Brain Networks Supports the Development of Executive Function in Youth
• Development of Human Brain Structural Networks Through Infancy and Childhood

Discussions

• Structure–function coupling in the first month of life: Associations with age and attention "age is associated with “decoupling” of patterns of functional from structural connectivity in neonates" d [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]