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We utilized a community detection approach to longitudinally (a) identify distinct groups of children with common temperament profiles in infancy and at 2 and 3 years of age and (b) determine whether co-occurrence of certain temperament traits may be early predictors of internalizing problems at 5 years of age. Seven hundred and seventy-four infants (360 girls; 88.6% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 1.6% other races) were recruited from the Boston area. Data collection spanned from 2012 to 2021. The analysis yielded three distinct groups of children with different temperament traits and was associated with significant variation in levels of internalizing symptoms and anxiety diagnosis rate. Our findings suggest that stable temperament "communities" can be detected in early childhood and may predict risk for psychopathology later in life.

Source localization of EEG signals identifies the loci of neural activity that generates the EEG voltage or power distribution on the scalp. This chapter provides a practical guide to source localization and its usage in EEG analysis in the frequency domain. Techniques proposed to overcome the inverse problem of source localization have progressed from equivalent dipole modeling to distributed source modeling, such as sLORETA and eLORETA. This chapter discusses the rationale behind these techniques, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using different techniques for source localization. Recent advances in high-resolution structural MRI make it possible to accurately delineate and model the tissues inside the head. This chapter discusses the importance of using realistic head models constructed with anatomical MRIs for EEG source localization. Finally, it reviews the applications of source localization as a neuroimaging tool in EEG frequency analysis.

There is strong support for the view that children growing up in low-income homes typically evince poorer performance on tests of inhibitory control compared to those growing up in higher income homes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the work documenting this association has been conducted in high-income countries. It is not yet known whether the mechanisms found to mediate this association would generalize to children in low- and middle-income countries, where the risks of exposure to extreme poverty and a wide range of both biological and psychosocial hazards may be greater. We examined relations among early adversity, neural correlates of inhibitory control, and cognitive outcomes in 154 5-year-old children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an area with a high prevalence of poverty. Participants completed a go/no-go task assessing inhibitory control and their behavioral and event-related potential responses were assessed. Cortical source analysis was performed. We collected measures of poverty, malnutrition, maternal mental health, psychosocial adversity, and cognitive skills. Supporting studies in high-income countries, children in this sample exhibited a longer N2 latency and higher P3 amplitude to the no-go versus go condition. Unexpectedly, children had a more pronounced N2 amplitude during go trials than no-go trials. The N2 latency was related to their behavioral accuracy on the go/no-go task. The P3 mean amplitude, behavioral accuracy, and reaction time during the task were all associated with intelligence-quotient (IQ) scores. Children who experienced higher levels of psychosocial adversity had lower accuracy on the task and lower IQ scores.

Highlights • Research from high-income countries shows that experiences impact neural development. • We examine EEG in relation to wealth and psychosocial factors in 6 and 36-month-olds from Bangladesh. • Wealth and maternal stress is associated with EEG oscillations in 36-month-olds. • Neither wealth nor maternal stress is associated with EEG oscillations in 6-month-olds. • Environmental influences on EEG may emerge between 6 and 36 months of age., Studies of infants growing up in high-income countries reveal developmental changes in electroencephalography (EEG) power whereby socioeconomic factors - specifically, low SES and low income - are associated with lower EEG power in infants aged newborn to nine months. In the current paper we explore relationships of spectral EEG power across three regions (frontal, central, and parietal) and four frequency bands (theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) with socioeconomic and psychosocial factors in a cohort of n = 160 6-month-old infants and n = 187 36-month-old children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Household wealth is assessed as a multi-dimensional composite score encompassing income, assets, and housing materials. Psychosocial factors include maternal perceived stress and family caregiving activities. Among the 6-month-old infants we do not observe any association of household wealth or psychosocial factors with EEG power. Among the 36-month-old children, we find that household wealth is negatively associated absolute power in the beta and gamma bands across frontal, central, and parietal electrodes. We also find that higher reports of maternal perceived stress are associated with more absolute theta power in frontal and central regions in the 36-month-old children. The finding of a negative relationship of household wealth with beta and gamma power in 36-month-old children differs from findings previously observed in infants in high-income countries. Overall, findings suggest that children’s environment continues to influence the development of EEG oscillations and provide support for the utility of EEG to quantify developmental effects of early life experiences on neural functional outcomes in low income countries.

There is a growing interest in using electroencephalography (EEG) and source modeling to investigate functional interactions among cortical processes, particularly when dealing with pediatric populations. This paper introduces two pipelines that have been recently used to conduct EEG FC analysis in the cortical source space. The analytic streams of these pipelines can be summarized into the following steps: 1) cortical source reconstruction of high-density EEG data using realistic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) models created with age-appropriate MRI templates; 2) segmentation of reconstructed source activities into brain regions of interest; and 3) estimation of FC in age-related frequency bands using robust EEG FC measures, such as weighted phase lag index and orthogonalized power envelope correlation. In this paper we demonstrate the two pipelines with resting-state EEG data collected from children at 12 and 36 months of age. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of the methods/techniques integrated into the pipelines. Given there is a need in the research community for open-access analytic toolkits that can be used for pediatric EEG data, programs and codes used for the current analysis are made available to the public.

Frontal electroencephalography (EEG) alpha asymmetry (FAA), defined as the difference in frontal alpha power observed over the right and left frontal scalp regions, has been widely used in developmental research as a measure of multiple aspects of child behavior, such as temperament. Studies have used different equations to calculate FAA, which renders comparison of results across studies challenging. Furthermore, few studies have examined FAA's longitudinal stability across infancy and early childhood, which is a desirable feature of a temperament measure. We investigated the cross-sectional and the longitudinal correlations of FAA values from four different equations to calculate FAA used in the literature. We used baseline EEG data from a longitudinal sample of 321 infants and 168 3-year-old children (149 of whom had data at both timepoints). Consistent with previous work, FAA values calculated using two commonly used equations were highly correlated with each other cross-sectionally but not with values from a different equation that used log-transformed relative power. The log-transformed relative power FAA values were the only values that showed significant longitudinal stability. These findings suggest that researchers interested in FAA as a trait-like measure in children should consider using the relative power equation that renders stability across ages.

Traumatic injuries require timely intervention, but medical expertise is not always available at the patient’s location. Despite recent advances in telecommunications, surgeons still have limited tools to remotely help inexperienced surgeons. Mixed Reality hints at a future where remote collaborators work side-by-side as if co-located; however, we still do not know how current technology can improve remote surgical collaboration. Through role-playing and iterative-prototyping, we identify collaboration practices used by expert surgeons to aid novice surgeons as well as technical requirements to facilitate these practices. We then introduce ARTEMIS, an AR-VR collaboration system that supports these key practices. Through an observational study with two expert surgeons and five novice surgeons operating on cadavers, we find that ARTEMIS supports remote surgical mentoring of novices through synchronous point, draw, and look affordances and asynchronous video clips. Most participants found that ARTEMIS facilitates collaboration despite existing technology limitations explored in this paper.

Background Postnatal maternal anxiety is common (estimates as high as 40% prevalence) and is associated with altered mother-infant interactions (e.g., reduced maternal emotional expression and engagement). Neural circuitry supporting infants' face and emotion processing develops in their first year. Thus, early exposure to maternal anxiety may impact infants' developing understanding of emotional displays. We examine whether maternal anxiety is associated with individual differences in typically developing infants' neural responses to emotional faces. Methods One hundred and forty two mother-infant dyads were assessed when infants were 5, 7, or 12 months old. Infants' electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded while passively viewing female happy, fearful, and angry faces. Three event-related potential (ERP) components, each linked to face and emotion processing, were evaluated: NC, N290, and P400. Infant ERP amplitude was related to concurrent maternal-report anxiety assessed with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Trait form). Results Greater maternal anxiety predicted more negative NC amplitude for happy and fearful faces in left and mid-central scalp regions, beyond covarying influences of maternal depression symptoms, infant negative emotionality, and infant age. Conclusions Postnatal maternal anxiety is related to infants' neural processing of emotional expressions. Infants of mothers endorsing high trait anxiety may need additional attentional resources to process happy and fearful faces (expressions less likely experienced in mother-infant interactions). Future research should investigate mechanisms underlying this association, given possibilities include experiential, genetic, and prenatal factors.

Contains fulltext : 227497.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Our affective experiences are influenced by combined multisensory information. Although the enhanced effects of congruent audiovisual information on our affective experiences have been well documented, the role of neural oscillations in the audiovisual integration of affective signals remains unclear. First, it is unclear whether oscillatory activity changes as a function of valence. Second, the function of phase-locked and non-phase-locked power changes in audiovisual integration of affect has not yet been clearly distinguished. To fill this gap, the present study performed time-frequency analyses on EEG data acquired while participants perceived positive, neutral and negative naturalistic video and music clips. A comparison between the congruent audiovisual condition and the sum of unimodal conditions was used to identify supra-additive (Audiovisual > Visual + Auditory) or sub-additive (Audiovisual < Visual + Auditory) integration effects. The results showed that early evoked sub-additive theta and sustained induced supra-additive delta and beta activities are linked to audiovisual integration of affect regardless of affective content. 7 p.

Electroencephalography (EEG) offers an easy-to-use tool to measure brain function in pediatric populations. It is often the method of choice when measuring brain activity in awake infants and children due to its superb temporal resolution, low-cost of recordings and relatively high tolerance to movements. Using EEG allows researchers to monitor brain activity in children during resting-state and cognitive tasks to understand the neurodevelopmental origin of human perception and cognition. Recent advances have been made in adopting state-of-the-art techniques in pediatric EEG research, such as MRI-compatible EEG source localization, frequency tagging, and functional connectivity analysis. This chapter elaborates on these new techniques and reviews their applications in the study of brain and cognitive development.

Additional file 2 CONSORT checklist for the related clinical study.

Additional file 1 Supplemental figure and table. Electrode locations, corresponding electrode numbers and channel numbers used in the paper.

Anthropometric indicators, including stunting, underweight, and wasting, have previously been associated with poor neurocognitive outcomes. This link may exist because malnutrition and infection, which are known to affect height and weight, also impact brain structure according to animal models. However, a relationship between anthropometric indicators and brain structural measures has not been tested yet, perhaps because stunting, underweight, and wasting are uncommon in higher-resource settings. Further, with diminished anthropometric growth prevalent in low-resource settings, where biological and psychosocial hazards are most severe, one might expect additional links between measures of poverty, anthropometry, and brain structure. To begin to examine these relationships, we conducted an MRI study in 2-3-month-old infants growing up in the extremely impoverished urban setting of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The sample size was relatively small because the challenges of investigating infant brain structure in a low-resource setting needed to be realized and resolved before introducing a larger cohort. Initially, fifty-four infants underwent T1 sequences using 3T MRI, and resulting structural images were segmented into gray and white matter maps, which were carefully evaluated for accurate tissue labeling by a pediatric neuroradiologist. Gray and white matter volumes from 29 infants (79 ​± ​10 days-of-age; F/M ​= ​12/17), whose segmentations were of relatively high quality, were submitted to semi-partial correlation analyses with stunting, underweight, and wasting, which were measured using height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-height (WHZ) scores. Positive semi-partial correlations (after adjusting for chronological age and sex and correcting for multiple comparisons) were observed between white matter volume and HAZ and WAZ; however, WHZ was not correlated with any measure of brain volume. No associations were observed between income-to-needs or maternal education and brain volumetric measures, suggesting that measures of poverty were not associated with total brain tissue volume in this sample. Overall, these results provide the first link between diminished anthropometric growth and white matter volume in infancy. Challenges of conducting a developmental neuroimaging study in a low-resource country are also described., Highlights • This is the first structural MRI study of infants growing up in an extreme poverty. • Anthropomorphic growth is linked to white matter volume in 2-month-old infants. • Challenges of conducting infant MRI in Bangladesh are discussed.

Background Early exposure to inflammation in childhood is increasingly recognized as one of the major factors that hinder millions of children worldwide from meeting their full developmental potential. The current study examined the association between systemic inflammation and children’s neural responses to facial stimuli and explored if this activity mediated the relation between inflammation and cognitive outcomes. Method Two separate cohorts of children living in an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh who are at high-risk for sustained inflammation were recruited in this study. The concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) in blood samples served as our index of inflammation. Blood samples were collected once at 18 weeks for the younger (infant) cohort (N = 125) and at 6, 18, 40, 53, and 104 weeks for the older (toddler) cohort (N = 120). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were also recorded separately for the two cohorts: at 6 months for the younger cohort (N = 48) and at 36 months for the older cohort (N = 93), using a face-oddball paradigm in which standard and oddball faces were presented. Cognitive outcomes were evaluated with Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) at 27 months for the younger cohort (N = 98) and with Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) at 48 months for the older cohort (N = 124). Results For the older toddler cohort, the P400 and Nc amplitude differences between the two types of stimuli were found to be associated with the frequency of elevated CRP such that more episodes of elevated CRP corresponded to smaller P400 and Nc differences between the two conditions. In addition, the P400 and Nc differences were both found to mediate the relation between inflammation and performance IQ scores. For the younger infant cohort, the participants showed differentiated N290 response to the two types of stimuli, but no association between the ERP response and CRP concentration was found. Conclusions These findings suggest that chronic systemic inflammation has a long-term impact on children’s brain functioning and cognitive development. The neural circuitries associated with social attention and recognition memory of faces may be potential pathways by which inflammation exerts its effect on cognitive development., Highlights • Chronic inflammation is assoicated with ERP responses to faces in Bangladeshi children. • Children more frequently having elevated CRP level show smaller ERP difference between familiar and novel faces. • The ERP difference is associated with future IQ. • The ERP activation mediates the relation between inflammation and future IQ.

In this paper we explore the relationship between the Visual Evoked Potential (VEP), a component of the electroencephalogram elicited by visual stimuli, and cognitive functions in children growing up in an urban slum in Bangladesh. VEPs in response to pattern-reversing checkerboards were collected in 6 month-old-infants (n = 91) and 36-month-old children (n = 112). We examine variation in the amplitude and latency of the first positive component, the P1, of the VEP in relation to cognitive scores on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. We also examine whether children’s caregiving experiences prior to the neuro-cognitive assessment explain variation in the P1 of the VEP. We find that the P1 amplitude of the VEP is related to concurrent cognitive performance in each respective cohort. We also find that the P1 amplitude at 6 months is prospectively associated with cognitive outcomes at 27 months, and the P1 amplitude at 36 months is prospectively associated with children’s IQ at 60 months. We find no associations between caregiving experiences and variation in the P1 of the VEP at 6 months, yet caregiving experience do explain variation in the P1 amplitude at 36 months. Caregiving experiences also explain variation in children’s concurrent and prospective cognitive functioning. The VEP may be used as a biomarker to index the neurobiological embedding of early adversity, which in turn may impact children’s cognitive functions.

Additional file 1. This file provides supplemental information on the methods and results of the current study, as well as a figure demonstrating the pipeline for source-space EEG functional connectivity analysis.

Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), the coupling of the phase of slower electrophysiological oscillations with the amplitude of faster oscillations, is thought to facilitate dynamic integration of neural activity in the brain. Though the brain undergoes dramatic change and development during the first few years of life, how PAC changes through this developmental period has not been extensively studied. Here, we examined PAC through electroencephalography (EEG) data collected during an awake, eyes-open EEG collection paradigm in 98 children between the ages of 3 months and 3 years. We employed non-parametric clustering methods to identify areas of significant PAC across a range of frequency pairs and electrode locations, and examined how PAC strength and phase preference develops in these areas. We found that PAC, primarily between the alpha-beta and gamma frequencies, was positively correlated with age from early infancy to early childhood (p = 2.035 x 10−6). Additionally, we found gamma over anterior electrodes coupled with the rising phase of the alpha-beta waveform, while gamma over posterior electrodes coupled with the falling phase of the alpha-beta waveform; this regionalized phase preference became more prominent with age. This opposing trend may reflect each region’s specialization towards feedback or feedforward processing, respectively, suggesting opportunities for back translation in future studies. Significance Statement The brain undergoes significant development during infancy and early childhood, enabling the emergence of higher-level cognition. Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) is thought to support the integration of information within the brain. Our data suggest PAC increases from 3 months to 3 years of age. We additionally report the anterior and posterior electrodes show opposing forms of PAC; this regional phase preference also increases with age of EEG collection. These findings help set the stage for future analyses of PAC in young children with neurodevelopmental disorders, in which development of biomarkers during early life is a burgeoning field and measures of cross-frequency coupling may offer new promise.

Electrophysiological studies on adults suggest that humans are efficient at detecting threat from facial information and tend to grant these signals a priority in access to attention, awareness, and action. The developmental origins of this bias are poorly understood, partly because few studies have examined the emergence of a generalized neural and behavioral response to distinct categories of threat in early childhood. We used event-related potential (ERP) and eye-tracking measures to examine children's early visual responses and overt attentional biases towards multiple exemplars of angry and fearful vs. other (e.g., happy and neutral) faces. A large group of children was assessed longitudinally in infancy (5, 7, or 12 months) and at 3 years of age. The final ERP dataset included 148 infants and 132 3-year-old children; and the final eye-tracking dataset included 272 infants and 334 3-year-olds. We demonstrate that 1) neural and behavioral responses to facial expressions converge on an enhanced response to fearful and angry faces at 3 years of age, with no differentiation between or bias towards one or the other of these expressions, and 2) a support vector machine learning model using data on the early-stage neural responses to threat reliably predicts the duration of overt attentional dwell time for threat-related faces at 3 years. However, we found little within-subject correlation between threat-bias attention in infancy and at 3 years of age. These results provide unique evidence for the early development of a rapid, unified response to two distinct categories of facial expressions with different physical characteristics, but shared threat-related meaning.

Maximizing infant attention to stimulus presentation during an EEG or ERP experiment is important for making valid inferences about the neural correlates of infant cognition. The present study examined the effects of stimulus presentation interstimulus interval (ISI) on behavioral and physiological indices of infant attention including infants' fixation to visual presentation, the amount of heart rate (HR) change during sustained attention, and ERP components. This study compared an ISI that is typically used in infant EEG/ERP studies (e.g., 1,500-2,000 ms) with two shorter durations (400-600 ms and 600-1,000 ms). Thirty-six infants were tested cross-sectionally at 3, 4.5, and 6 months. It was found that using the short (400-600 ms) and medium (600-1,000 ms) ISIs resulted in more visually fixated trials and reduced frequency of fixation disengagement per experimental block. We also found larger HR changes during sustained attention to both of the shorter ISIs compared with the long ISI, and larger ERP responses when using the medium ISI compared to using the short and long ISIs. These data suggest that utilizing an optimal ISI (e.g., 600-1,000 ms), which increases the presentation complexity and provides sufficient time for information processing, can promote infant engagement and sustained attention during stimulus presentation.

Cortical areas in the ventral visual pathway become selectively tuned towards the processing of faces compared to non-face stimuli beginning around 3 months of age and continuing over the first year. Studies using event-related potentials in the EEG (ERPs) have found an ERP component, the N290, that displays specificity for human faces. Other components, such as the P1, P400, and Nc have been studied to a lesser degree in their responsiveness to human faces. However, little is known about the systematic changes in the neural responses to faces during the first year of life, and the localization of these responses in infants’ brain. We examined ERP responses to pictures of faces and objects in infants from 4.5 months through 12 months in a cross-sectional study. We investigated the activity of all the components reported to be involved in infant face processing, with particular interest to their amplitude variation and cortical localization. We identified neural regions responsible for the component through the application of cortical source localization methods. We found larger P1 and N290 responses to faces than objects, and these components were localized in the lingual and middle / posterior fusiform gyri, respectively. The amplitude of the P400 was not differentially sensitive to faces over objects. The Nc component was different for faces and objects, was influenced by the infant’s attentional state, and localized in medial-anterior brain areas. The implications of these results are discussed in the identification of developmental ERP precursors to face processing.

Background: Faltered growth has been shown to affect 161 million children worldwide and derail cognitive development from early childhood. The neural pathways by which growth faltering in early childhood affects future cognitive outcomes remain unclear, which is partially due to the scarcity of research using both neuroimaging and sensitive behavioral techniques in low-income settings. We employed EEG to examine the association between growth faltering and brain functional connectivity and whether brain functional connectivity mediates the effect of early adversity on cognitive development. Methods: We recruited participants from an urban impoverished neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. One sample consisted of 85 children whose EEG and growth measures (height for age, weight for age, and weight to height) were collected at 6 months and cognitive outcomes were assessed at 27 months. Another sample consisted of 115 children whose EEG and growth measures were collected at 36 months and IQ scores were assessed at 48 months. Path analysis was used to test the effect of growth measures on cognitive outcomes through brain functional connectivity. Findings: Faltered growth was found to be accompanied by overall increased functional connectivity in the theta and low-beta frequency bands for the 36-month-old cohort. For both cohorts, brain functional connectivity was negatively predictive of later cognitive outcomes at 27 and 48 months, respectively. Faltered growth was found to have a negative impact on children9s IQ scores in the older cohort, and this effect was found to be mediated by brain functional connectivity in the low-beta band. Findings: Faltered growth was found to be accompanied by overall increased functional connectivity in the theta and low-beta frequency bands for the 36-month-old cohort. For both cohorts, brain functional connectivity was negatively predictive of later cognitive outcomes at 27 and 48 months, respectively. Faltered growth was found to have a negative impact on children9s IQ scores in the older cohort, and this effect was found to be mediated by brain functional connectivity in the low-beta band. Interpretation: The association found between growth measures and brain functional connectivity may reflect a broad deleterious effect of malnutrition on children9s brain development. The mediation effect of functional connectivity on the relation between physical growth and later IQ scores provides the first experimental evidence that brain functional connectivity may mediate neural pathway by which biological adversity affects cognitive outcomes. Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1111625)

In the present study we examined the neural correlates of facial emotion processing in the first year of life using ERP measures and cortical source analysis. EEG data were collected cross-sectionally from 5- (N = 49), 7- (N = 50), and 12-month-old (N = 51) infants while they were viewing images of angry, fearful and happy faces. The N290 component was found to be larger in amplitude in response to fearful and happy than angry faces in all posterior clusters and showed largest response to fear than the other two emotions only over the right occipital area. The P400 and Nc components were found to be larger in amplitude in response to angry than happy and fearful faces over central and frontal scalp. Cortical source analysis of the N290 component revealed greater cortical activation in the right fusiform face area in response to fearful faces. This effect started to emerge at 5 months and became well established at 7 months, but it disappeared at 12 months. The P400 and Nc components were primarily localized to the PCC/Precuneus where heightened responses to angry faces were observed. The current results suggest the detection of a fearful face in infants’ brain can happen shortly (~200 – 290 ms) after the stimulus onset, and this process may rely on the face network and develop substantially between 5 to 7 months of age. The current findings also suggest the differential processing of angry faces occurred later in the P400/Nc time window, which recruits the PCC/Precuneus and is associated with the allocation of infants’ attention.

The N170 ERP component has been widely identified as a face-sensitive neural marker. Despite extensive investigations conducted to examine the neural sources of N170, there are two issues in prior literature: (a) few studies used individualized anatomy as head model for the cortical source analysis of the N170, and (b) the relationship between the N170 and face-selective regions from fMRI studies is unclear. Here, we addressed these questions by presenting pictures of faces and houses to the same group of healthy adults and recording structural MRI, fMRI, and high-density ERPs in separate sessions. Source analysis based on the participant's anatomy showed that the middle and posterior fusiform gyri were the primary neural sources for the face-sensitive aspects of the N170. Source analysis based on regions of interest from the fMRI revealed that the fMRI-defined fusiform face area was the major contributor to the N170. The current study suggests that the fusiform gyrus is a major neural contributor to the N170 ERP component and provides further insights about the spatiotemporal characteristics of face processing.

The study of brain functional connectivity is crucial to understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the improved behavioral performance and amplified ERP responses observed during infant sustained attention. Previous investigations on the development of functional brain connectivity during infancy are primarily confined to the use of functional and structural MRI techniques. The current study examined the relation between infant sustained attention and brain functional connectivity and their development during infancy with high-density EEG recordings. Fifty-nine infants were tested at 6 (N = 15), 8 (N =14), 10 (N = 17), and 12 (N = 13) months. Infant sustained attention was defined by measuring infant heart rate changes during infants' looking. Functional connectivity was estimated from the electrodes on the scalp and with reconstructed cortical source activities in brain regions. It was found that infant sustained attention was accompanied by attenuated functional connectivity in the dorsal attention and default mode networks in the alpha band. Graph theory analyses showed that there was an increase in path length and a decrease in clustering coefficient during infant sustained attention. The functional connectivity within the visual, somatosensory, dorsal attention, and ventral attention networks and graph theory measures of path length and clustering coefficient were found to increase with age. These findings suggest that infant sustained attention is accompanied by distinct patterns of brain functional connectivity. The current findings also suggest the rapid development of functional connectivity in brain networks during infancy.

Population-specific brain templates that provide detailed brain information are beneficial to both structural and functional neuroimaging research. However, age-specific MRI templates have not been constructed for Chinese or any Asian developmental populations. This study developed novel T1-weighted average brain and head templates for Chinese children from 7 to 16 years of age in two-year increments using high quality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and well-validated image analysis techniques. A total of 138 Chinese children (51 F/87 M) were included in this study. The internally and externally validated registrations show that these Chinese age-specific templates fit Chinese children's MR images significantly better than age-specific templates created from U.S. children, or adult templates based on either Chinese or North American adults. It implies that age-inappropriate (e.g., the Chinese56 template, the US20–24 template) and nationality-inappropriate brain templates (e.g., U.S. children's templates, the US20–24 template) do not provide optimal reference MRIs for processing MR brain images of Chinese pediatric populations. Thus, our age-specific MRI templates are the first of the kind and should be useful in neuroimaging studies with children from Chinese or other Asian populations. These templates can also serve as the foundations for the construction of more comprehensive sets of nationality-specific templates for Asian developmental populations. These templates are available for use in our database.

This publication reports on a research project in which we set out to explore the advantages and disadvantages augmented reality (AR) technology has for visual data analytics. We developed a prototype of an AR data analytics application, which provides users with an interactive 3D interface, hand gesture-based controls and multi-user support for a shared experience, enabling multiple people to collaboratively visualize, analyze and manipulate data with high dimensional features in 3D space. Our software prototype, called DataCube, runs on the Microsoft HoloLens - one of the first true stand-alone AR headsets, through which users can see computer-generated images overlaid onto real-world objects in the user's physical environment. Using hand gestures, the users can select menu options, control the 3D data visualization with various filtering and visualization functions, and freely arrange the various menus and virtual displays in their environment. The shared multi-user experience allows all participating users to see and interact with the virtual environment, changes one user makes will become visible to the other users instantly. As users engage together they are not restricted from observing the physical world simultaneously and therefore they can also see non-verbal cues such as gesturing or facial reactions of other users in the physical environment. The main objective of this research project was to find out if AR interfaces and collaborative analysis can provide an effective solution for data analysis tasks, and our experience with our prototype system confirms this.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive method to measure brain structure and function that may be applied to human participants of all ages. This chapter reviews our recent work creating a life-span Neurodevelopmental MRI Database. It provides age-specific reference data in fine-grained age intervals from 2 weeks through 89 years. The reference data include average MRI templates, segmented tissue priors, and a common stereotaxic atlas for pediatric and adult participants. The database will be useful for neuroimaging research over a wide range of ages and may be used to make life-span comparisons. The chapter reviews the application of this database to the study of neurostructural development, including a new volumetric study of segmented brain tissue over the life span. We also show how this database could be used to create "study-specific" MRI templates for special groups and apply this to the MRIs of Chinese children. Finally, we review recent use of the database in the study of brain activity in pediatric populations.

This current study investigated brain development of Chinese and American children and adolescents from 8 to 16 years of age using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Analyses comparing Chinese and U.S. children brain/head MR images were performed to explore similarities and differences in the trajectory of brain development between these two groups. Our results revealed regional and age differences in both brain/head morphological and tissue level development between Chinese and U.S. children. Chinese children’s brains and heads were shorter, wider, and taller than those of U.S. children. There were significant differences in the gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) intensity between the two nationalities. Development trajectories for cerebral volume, GM, and several key brain structures were also distinct between these two populations.

This article summarizes a life-span neurodevelopmental MRI database. The study of neurostructural development or neurofunctional development has been hampered by the lack of age-appropriate MRI reference volumes. This causes misspecification of segmented data, irregular registrations, and the absence of appropriate stereotaxic volumes. We have created the "Neurodevelopmental MRI Database" that provides age-specific reference data from 2 weeks through 89 years of age. The data are presented in fine-grained ages (e.g., 3 months intervals through 1 year; 6 months intervals through 19.5 years; 5 year intervals from 20 through 89 years). The base component of the database at each age is an age-specific average MRI template. The average MRI templates are accompanied by segmented partial volume estimates for segmenting priors, and a common stereotaxic atlas for infant, pediatric, and adult participants. The database is available online (http://jerlab.psych.sc.edu/NeurodevelopmentalMRIDatabase/).

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive method to measure brain structure and function that may be applied to human participants of all ages. This chapter reviews our recent work creating a life-span Neurodevelopmental MRI Database. It provides age-specific reference data in fine-grained age intervals from 2 weeks through 89 years. The reference data include average MRI templates, segmented tissue priors, and a common stereotaxic atlas for pediatric and adult participants. The database will be useful for neuroimaging research over a wide range of ages and may be used to make life-span comparisons. The chapter reviews the application of this database to the study of neurostructural development, including a new volumetric study of segmented brain tissue over the life span. We also show how this database could be used to create "study-specific" MRI templates for special groups and apply this to the MRIs of Chinese children. Finally, we review recent use of the database in the study of brain activity in pediatric populations.