Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Measuring early experiences: Challenges and future directions","authors":"Kathryn L. Humphreys,&nbsp;Lucy S. King","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The brain’s remarkable plasticity during early development makes it highly responsive to environmental input, with early experiences having lasting effects on functioning and development. Both adversity and variations in normative caregiving experiences influence developmental trajectories. Accurately assessing these diverse experiences is crucial for understanding their role in shaping brain development, yet current measurement approaches face significant challenges that limit our ability to capture the complex, multidimensional nature of children's environmental exposures. This review examines seven key challenges in measuring early experiences: (1) Conflation of exposure and response, (2) Oversimplification of complex experiences, (3) Informant bias and reliability issues, (4) Biomarker overinterpretation and inferential leaps, (5) Limited ecological validity, (6) Genetic confounding, and (7) Limited generalizability across cultures and communities. We discuss how these limitations constrain our understanding of how diverse early experiences shape brain development and propose evidence-based approaches to address each challenge. Emerging frameworks that distinguish between different dimensions of adversity, technological advances in passive monitoring, and genetically-informed research designs offer promising paths forward. By advancing precise, high-dimensional approaches to measuring early experiences, researchers can improve understanding of fundamental neurodevelopmental processes while addressing questions of practical significance in education, mental health, and social policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101637"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145496697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Academic success and mental health: The paradox of Frontoparietal‐Default Mode Network coupling among children facing poverty","authors":"Selina Pacheco ,&nbsp;Silvia A. Bunge ,&nbsp;Monica E. Ellwood-Lowe","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101618","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101618","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Childhood family income is a powerful predictor of academic achievement and mental health. Here, we ask whether children living in poverty who succeed academically are subsequently protected from, or at risk for, internalizing symptoms. Prior research indicates that children in poverty with better academic performance tend to have higher temporal coupling between the Lateral Frontoparietal Network (LFPN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) than lower-performing children in poverty. An open question is whether higher LFPN-DMN coupling has maladaptive long-term consequences for mental health for this population. In this pre-registered longitudinal study, we analyzed data from 10,829 children (1931 in poverty) in the ABCD study across four time points (ages 9–13). Higher grades correlated with fewer internalizing symptoms concurrently; this association was more pronounced for children below poverty. Longitudinally, higher LFPN-DMN related to more internalizing symptoms two years later for children in poverty in particular. Thus, although higher academic performance was associated with better mental health outcomes for all children, the specific pattern of LFPN-DMN connectivity that supports academic resilience among children in poverty may be a risk factor for developing internalizing symptoms. These findings highlight the complex nature of academic resilience in the context of structural inequity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101618"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145222044","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Working memory-related brain activations and deactivations linked with adolescent substance use via alexithymia","authors":"Benjelene D. Sutherland ,&nbsp;Lauren D. Hill-Bowen ,&nbsp;Elisa M. Trucco ,&nbsp;Angela R. Laird ,&nbsp;Matthew T. Sutherland","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Adolescent substance use (SU) rates remain high, speaking to continued need for enhanced insight into etiological factors. While working memory-related task performance and brain activity have been highlighted as potential predictors, mechanistic links to SU remain unclear. One possible link explored here is alexithymia, which is characterized by difficulty describing, identifying, and recognizing emotions and associated with altered prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) activity.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Adolescents (<em>n</em> = 137) from a longitudinal study completed a n-back working memory (WM) task during fMRI scanning at baseline. Utilizing serial mediation models, we considered the interrelations between WM-related brain activity (i.e., lateral PFC [lPFC], STG), task performance (i.e., d-prime), Toronto Alexithymia Scale scores (i.e., difficulty describing feelings), and self-reported SU variables at follow-up. Six models estimated the influence of lPFC/STG activity on e-cigarette, cannabis, and alcohol use via task performance and alexithymia.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In the absence of serial mediation, we observed a simple mediation effect linking brain activity and SU via alexithymia. Specifically, less lPFC WM-related <em>activation</em> was linked with higher alexithymia which, in turn, predicted more e-cigarette use assessed over a year later. Conversely, less STG <em>deactivation</em> was linked with higher alexithymia, which predicted more e-cigarette use. Significant indirect effects were not detected in the cannabis or alcohol models.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These outcomes highlight alexithymia as a mechanistic link between WM abilities and e-cigarette use. Functional alterations in WM-related brain regions may render some adolescents prone to difficulty communicating feelings and potential nicotine use to modulate emotions or connect socially.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101634"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145309685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Racial/ethnic discrimination shapes adolescent brain connectivity: Social buffers and implications for executive function","authors":"Natasha Duell ,&nbsp;Gabriella M. Alvarez ,&nbsp;Eva H. Telzer ,&nbsp;Keely A. Muscatell","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101625","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101625","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Racial and ethnic discrimination has lasting consequences for adolescent functioning, yet its impact on adolescent brain development is relatively understudied. Identifying the neural circuits affected by discrimination can reveal key insights into brain plasticity and resilience. This pre-registered, multi-method study examined the longitudinal effect of racial/ethnic discrimination on one indicator of executive function via resting state functional connectivity among 4669 adolescents of color (e.g., 44 % Latinx, 43 % Black, 13 % Asian, 8 % Native American) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study. Further, we explored familism and school support as social-environmental buffers. Greater discrimination impeded adolescents’ performance on the Flanker test of selective attention and inhibitory control via longitudinal effects on connectivity between the attention networks, specifically among youth evincing low familism. Among adolescents reporting low school support, greater discrimination was associated with heightened dorsal attention—salience network connectivity. Findings offer initial evidence for the neurobiological processes impacted by discrimination and social-environmental strengths that may “break the link” between discrimination and brain function.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101625"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145253345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intrinsic functional neurocircuitry of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in early infancy","authors":"Yanbin Niu ,&nbsp;M. Catalina Camacho ,&nbsp;Sanjana Ravi ,&nbsp;Brandon Wallroff ,&nbsp;Joshua Hageman ,&nbsp;Jennifer Urbano Blackford ,&nbsp;Kathryn L. Humphreys","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101638","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101638","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health conditions, often emerging early in life and leading to substantial impairments across the lifespan. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) plays a central role in threat processing and anxiety regulation, yet its early functional connectivity profile and links to early signs of anxiety remain poorly understood. The current study investigates intrinsic functional connectivity of the BNST in 1-month-old infants using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and explores its longitudinal association with anxiety symptoms later in infancy. We observe that early in development the BNST exhibits intrinsic connectivity with key subcortical regions, including the amygdala, hippocampus, and ventral striatum. However, connectivity patterns observed in human adults, including BNST–frontal cortex connectivity, were not observed in infants. Furthermore, weaker BNST–amygdala connectivity at 1 month was significantly associated with greater anxiety symptoms assessed at 18 months (<em>β</em>=-0.339, 95 % CI [-0.586, −0.093]), highlighting the potential role of early BNST connectivity in later anxiety-related behaviors. These findings provide the earliest evidence to date of BNST functional connectivity in human infancy and its prospective link to later anxiety symptoms, helping to fill a critical gap in our understanding of the early development of anxiety-related neural circuits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101638"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145460419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding barriers to adolescent participation in developmental neuroscience research","authors":"Emma Renwick ,&nbsp;Kristabel Stark ,&nbsp;Emily Tan ,&nbsp;Jenna Gonzalez ,&nbsp;Alexis Brieant","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101623","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101623","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increasing representation of youth in developmental neuroscience research is essential to elucidating neurobiological mechanisms of cognition, behavior, and mental health. However, the field faces critical challenges in optimizing recruitment strategies and reducing barriers to participation among underrepresented populations. To examine these challenges and identify solutions, we employed a qualitative approach to assess barriers to research participation among a sample of adolescents. Data were drawn from semi-structured online focus groups with adolescents in a rural area of the United States. The sample included 20 participants (ages 13–18 years, 65 % female). A subset of questions addressed interest in research participation and potential barriers, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results indicated five key themes: transportation, time, safety, caregiver involvement, and other barriers. Many participants highlighted their reliance on caregivers for transportation, as well as concerns about the overall time commitment of research participation. Misconceptions about magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contributed to adolescents' hesitancy to participate. Many of these barriers are relevant across research settings, but may be especially salient for youth in rural communities, a population often underrepresented in developmental neuroscience research. Based on the data, we offer potential solutions such as community outreach and education, fair compensation, and community-based partnerships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101623"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145234013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-level patterns predict cannabis use onset among youth","authors":"Yixin Wang ,&nbsp;Robbie Fraser ,&nbsp;Laika Aguinaldo ,&nbsp;Tam T. Nguyen-Louie ,&nbsp;Fiona C. Baker ,&nbsp;Susan F. Tapert ,&nbsp;Kilian M. Pohl","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Early cannabis initiation during youth is associated with elevated risk for harmful substance use, mental disorders, and cognitive impairments. To account for the complexity behind cannabis use initiation, we performed a data-driven analysis across 151 measurements spanning seven domains from the individual, microsystem, and exosystem level of influences: biobehavior, cognition, brain MRI, family, peer, neighborhood and legal factors. Data were from 450 cannabis-naïve youths from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) (baseline age: 12–21 years). Within an 8-year period, 292 transitioned to first use and 163 to weekly use of cannabis. Random Survival Forest predicted age of first onset (C-index = 0.68; 95 % CI: [0.65,0.71]) and weekly onset (C-index = 0.69; 95 % CI: [0.67–0.71]) with an accuracy significantly higher than chance (i.e., C-index = 0.5). Its prediction patterns consisted of factors from all three levels of influence. The predictive pattern of first onset comprised 13 factors across six domains including lower positive thinking during stress coping, which correlated with earlier use (R²=0.023, <em>p = 0.0090</em>). Three variables were shared with the predictive pattern of weekly use onset: cannabis outlet density, access to alcohol at home, and more positive social expectations of alcohol use forecasting earlier onset (Initial Use: R²=0.031, <em>p = 0.0027</em>; Weekly Use: R²=0.023, <em>p = 0.0090</em>). Weekly use onset was predicted by only four factors suggesting that while many influences contribute to a youth trying cannabis, only a few key factors appear to facilitate escalation to habitual use, some of which represent promising targets for prevention programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101639"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145496731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Theta activity as a marker of cognitive development in infancy: A longitudinal study across the first two years of life","authors":"Alicja Brzozowska ,&nbsp;Johanna Ruess ,&nbsp;Regina Ori Stoeckl ,&nbsp;Martina Arioli ,&nbsp;Stefanie Hoehl","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101642","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101642","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research shows that the theta rhythm in infant electroencephalogram indexes learning processes and is a promising candidate for a marker of early cognitive development. However, a scarcity of studies investigating the stability of individual differences in theta activity in infancy, and a large variability in analytical approaches in existing research constrain the interpretations of research findings. In our large longitudinal study, we related three different indices of frontocentral theta activity (absolute and relative power, and an index of theta modulation by novel content) at 6 and 12 months to cognitive development level, language skills, and visual attention at 24 months. We found an increase in theta power over the course of novel information encoding at 6 and 12 months, replicating prior studies. Both absolute and relative theta power, but not theta modulation index, showed a large degree of stability in individual differences from 6 to 12 months. Finally, absolute theta power at 6 and 12 months was a positive predictor of the general cognitive level, but not of specific skills (selective attention, language) at 24 months. Of note, we observed similar effects for absolute power in the alpha frequency band, suggesting that the effects are not specific to the theta frequency band. Our results support the involvement of the theta rhythm in cognitive development in infancy and point to absolute power as the potentially most sensitive index of individual differences in theta activity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"76 ","pages":"Article 101642"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145472261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The development of semantic integration in bilingual toddlers measured by N400","authors":"Itziar Lozano ,&nbsp;Anna Duszyk-Bogorodzka ,&nbsp;Ingeborg Sophie Ribu ,&nbsp;Natalia Falkiewicz ,&nbsp;Wiktoria Ogonowska ,&nbsp;Agnieszka Dynak ,&nbsp;Franziska Köder ,&nbsp;Przemysław Tomalski ,&nbsp;Ewelina Fryzowska ,&nbsp;Grzegorz Krajewski ,&nbsp;Cecilie Rummelhoff ,&nbsp;Elena C. Varona ,&nbsp;Karolina Krupa-Gaweł ,&nbsp;Lisa Laumann ,&nbsp;Nina Gram Garmann ,&nbsp;Ewa Haman","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101599","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101599","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Semantic integration is a mechanism of lexical-semantic processing. When indexed by N400, it emerges coupled with the vocabulary spurt in the second year. To what extent maturation and language exposure contribute to its development remains unclear. Bilingual toddlers split their time between two languages. While experiencing similar concepts as monolinguals, bilinguals are less exposed to each language’s words. This makes them a key group to disentangle the relative contribution of maturation and language exposure in the emergence of semantic integration. We investigate (1) whether bilinguals follow the same developmental trajectory of semantic integration as monolinguals, and (2) whether semantic integration differs between bilinguals’ dominant and non-dominant languages across time. If language exposure drives semantic integration, we expect earlier timing of onset of semantic integration in monolinguals than bilinguals and language-dominance effects within bilinguals. In this event-related potential mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional study (N=131), bilingual and monolingual 18- and 24-month-olds were shown a picture-word priming<del>-</del>paradigm. We found N400 effect at 18 and 24 months in monolinguals. Bilinguals showed no evidence of N400 effect in either the dominant or non-dominant language at any time-point. Although the bilingual sample was smaller than planned, our results contribute to general neurodevelopmental and dual language acquisition models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101599"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144770880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Puberty, sex, and fear extinction retention: A neuroimaging study in youth","authors":"Sneha Bhargava ,&nbsp;Clara G. Zundel ,&nbsp;MacKenna Shampine ,&nbsp;Samantha Ely ,&nbsp;Carmen Carpenter ,&nbsp;Jennifer Losiowski ,&nbsp;Shravya Chanamolu ,&nbsp;Jovan Jande ,&nbsp;Reem Tamimi ,&nbsp;Kamakashi Sharma ,&nbsp;Emilie O’Mara ,&nbsp;Alaina M. Jaster ,&nbsp;Hilary A. Marusak","doi":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101595","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101595","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anxiety disorders affect 31.1 % of U.S. adults, with females exhibiting twice the prevalence of males. While sex differences are well-documented, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Advanced pubertal status is linked to increased anxiety symptoms in females but not males, suggesting puberty contributes to sex differences in fear-based disorders. Deficits in fear extinction and retention are implicated in anxiety, and prior research suggests sex hormones influence extinction retention. This study examined sex assigned at birth (parent-reported) and pubertal status (self-reported) on extinction retention in 101 youth (47.5 % female) using a Pavlovian fear extinction paradigm. Measures included self-reported anxiety symptoms, extinction retention, and neural activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49083,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101595"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144587823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}