ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Shifting gradients of macroscale cortical organization mark the transition from childhood to adolescence.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 150 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
150 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A working model linking the psychopathology and pathophysiology of major depressive disorder - an umbrella review of neuroimaging studies and a conceptual framework.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Biological correlates of temperament: systematic reviews, empirical studies, and a conceptual framework linking neurotransmitter signaling, intrinsic brain activity, and the hyperthymic-depressive spectrum.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Infrared Thermal Imaging (ITI), a Non-invasive Window Into Early Emotion Regulation: A Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Macroscale Gradient Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease: Patterns With Cognition Terms and Gene Expression Profiles.Human brain mapping · 2024Pooled it
- Spontaneous Brain Activity Alterations in First-Episode Psychosis: A Meta-analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Pooled it
- Different functional alteration in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across developmental age groups: A meta-analysis and an independent validation of resting-state functional connectivity studies.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Pooled it
- Polarisation of brain dynamics in mania and depression.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Hierarchical disruption of lateral prefrontal cortex gradients in cognitive aging.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Different functional connectivity gradients reflect aging and Alzheimer's disease.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cortical microarchitecture supports preadolescent functional brain network connectivity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal white-matter development across early childhood.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Domain-general and language-specific brain networks are differentially associated with verbal intelligence during development.iScience · 2026Article
- Region- and Layer-Specific Glutamatergic Synapse Development in the Nascent Cortical Hierarchy.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Human cortex organizes dynamic co-fluctuations along the sensorimotor-association axis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Nucleus-level thalamic organization anchors multimodal signatures of thalamocortical maturation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Developmental Neurotoxicity of Alcohol from Neuronal Basis to Behavioural Outcomes: A Comprehensive Review.Neurology international · 2026Review
- Opportunities and pitfalls of data contextualization in neuroimaging.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Brain Connectivity Development Using Sign-Aware Graph Theory Metrics.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Developmental human brain connectome from fetal stage to early childhood.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Review
- From Developmental Timing to Clinical Visibility: An Integrative Narrative Review of Sex-Related Neurocognitive Development.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
90 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Abstract
The transition from childhood to adolescence is marked by pronounced shifts in brain structure and function that coincide with the development of physical, cognitive, and social abilities. Prior work in adult populations has characterized the topographical organization of the cortex, revealing macroscale functional gradients that extend from unimodal (somatosensory/motor and visual) regions through the cortical association areas that underpin complex cognition in humans. However, the presence of these core functional gradients across development as well as their maturational course have yet to be established. Here, leveraging 378 resting-state functional MRI scans from 190 healthy individuals aged 6 to 17 y old, we demonstrate that the transition from childhood to adolescence is reflected in the gradual maturation of gradient patterns across the cortical sheet. In children, the overarching organizational gradient is anchored within the unimodal cortex, between somatosensory/motor and visual territories. Conversely, in adolescence, the principal gradient of connectivity transitions into an adult-like spatial framework, with the default network at the opposite end of a spectrum from primary sensory and motor regions. The observed gradient transitions are gradually refined with age, reaching a sharp inflection point in 13 and 14 y olds. Functional maturation was nonuniformly distributed across cortical networks. Unimodal networks reached their mature positions early in development, while association regions, in particular the medial prefrontal cortex, reached a later peak during adolescence. These data reveal age-dependent changes in the macroscale organization of the cortex and suggest the scheduled maturation of functional gradient patterns may be critically important for understanding how cognitive and behavioral capabilities are refined across development.
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