Functional reorganization of brain networks from childhood to adolescence: A multi-level approach

Abstract

Background/objective

During childhood and adolescence, functional connectivity undergoes distinct age-related maturational trajectories within and between networks. However, normative connectivity patterns across development remain insufficiently characterized.

Methods

This study integrates voxel-wise degree centrality, degree centrality-derived seed-based connectivity, and network-level analyses to examine large-scale functional organization in a large multisite sample of 322 typically developing children (7–10.99 years) and adolescents (11–15 years) from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I and II repositories.

Results

Across all analytical levels, adolescents exhibited strengthened functional connectivity of subcortical hubs -the thalamus and the basal ganglia- with the Ventral Attention Network and Frontoparietal Network, emerging as the key hubs of network integration in adolescence. Children, by contrast, showed stronger functional connectivity within posterior sensory-perceptual nodes, particularly involving angular and occipital regions.

Conclusions

Our findings delineate a developmental reorganization from sensory-anchored functional architectures in childhood toward increasingly integrated subcortical, attentional and frontoparietal systems in adolescence, supporting emerging capacities for cognitive-control and goal-directed behavior. This multilevel characterization offers a normative reference framework for interpreting variability in neurodevelopment and, ultimately, for identifying potential early deviations.