Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Neurobiología, Querétaro, Mexico.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Neurobiología, Querétaro, Mexico.
Neuroimage. 2018 Jul 1;174:441-448. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.051. Epub 2018 Mar 26.
Hemispheric specialization of cognitive functions is a developmental process that shapes the brain from the gestational stage to adulthood. Functional connectivity of the resting brain has been largely used to infer the hemispheric organization of the spontaneous brain activity. In particular, two main properties have been largely explored throughout development: hemispheric asymmetry of functional connectivity and homotopic functional connectivity. However, their relation with specific cognitive processes typically associated with hemispheric specialization, such as visuospatial abilities, remains largely unexplored. Such relationships could be particularly relevant for the quest of developmental cognitive biomarkers in childhood, a significant maturation period of visuospatial abilities. Moreover, the relation between asymmetry and homotopy of brain functional connectivity is not well understood. We have examined these two properties in a sample of 60 typically developing children between 6 and 10 years of age, and explored their relation with visuospatial abilities. First, we identified a strong negative relation between homotopy and asymmetry across the brain. In addition, these properties showed areas in the posterior portion of the brain, with significant correlation with performance in visual memory and visual attention tasks. These results highlight the relevance of the hemispheric organization of spontaneous brain activity for developmental cognition, particularly for visuospatial abilities.
大脑半球认知功能的偏侧化是一个从胚胎期到成年期塑造大脑的发展过程。静息态大脑的功能连接在很大程度上被用来推断自发脑活动的大脑半球组织。特别是，在整个发育过程中，两个主要特性被广泛探索：功能连接的半球不对称性和同型功能连接。然而，它们与特定的认知过程之间的关系，如与大脑半球偏侧化相关的视空间能力，在很大程度上仍未被探索。这种关系对于在儿童时期寻找发育认知生物标志物可能特别重要，因为儿童时期是视空间能力显著成熟的时期。此外，大脑功能连接的不对称性和同型性之间的关系还没有得到很好的理解。我们在 6 到 10 岁的 60 名正常发育的儿童样本中检查了这两个特性，并探讨了它们与视空间能力的关系。首先，我们在整个大脑中发现了功能连接的同型性和不对称性之间的强烈负相关。此外，这些特性与大脑后部区域显著相关，与视觉记忆和视觉注意力任务的表现有显著相关性。这些结果强调了自发脑活动的大脑半球组织对发育认知，特别是对视空间能力的重要性。
