Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94304, USA; The Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Neurodevelopment & Psychosis Section, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
The Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Neurodevelopment & Psychosis Section, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Neuron. 2023 Apr 19;111(8):1316-1330.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.01.014. Epub 2023 Feb 17.
Hierarchical processing requires activity propagating between higher- and lower-order cortical areas. However, functional neuroimaging studies have chiefly quantified fluctuations within regions over time rather than propagations occurring over space. Here, we leverage advances in neuroimaging and computer vision to track cortical activity propagations in a large sample of youth (n = 388). We delineate cortical propagations that systematically ascend and descend a cortical hierarchy in all individuals in our developmental cohort, as well as in an independent dataset of densely sampled adults. Further, we demonstrate that top-down, descending hierarchical propagations become more prevalent with greater demands for cognitive control as well as with development in youth. These findings emphasize that hierarchical processing is reflected in the directionality of propagating cortical activity and suggest top-down propagations as a potential mechanism of neurocognitive maturation in youth.
层级处理需要活动在高低层次的皮质区域之间传播。然而,功能神经影像学研究主要是量化随时间的区域内波动,而不是发生在空间上的传播。在这里,我们利用神经影像学和计算机视觉的进展,在一大群年轻人(n=388)中跟踪皮质活动的传播。我们在我们的发展队列中的所有个体以及在密集采样的成年人的独立数据集上描绘了系统地在皮质层次上上升和下降的皮质传播。此外,我们还证明了随着认知控制需求的增加以及年轻人的发展,自上而下的、下行的层级传播变得更加普遍。这些发现强调了层级处理反映在传播皮质活动的方向性上,并提出自上而下的传播作为年轻人神经认知成熟的潜在机制。