Age-related resting-state functional connectivity of the Vigilant Attention network in children and adolescents

Hugo A E Morandini; Pradeep Rao; Sean D Hood; Florian D Zepf; Timothy J Silk; Kristi R Griffiths

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105791

Age-related resting-state functional connectivity of the Vigilant Attention network in children and adolescents

Brain Cogn. 2021 Nov:154:105791. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105791. Epub 2021 Sep 9.

Authors

Hugo A E Morandini¹, Pradeep Rao², Sean D Hood³, Florian D Zepf⁴, Timothy J Silk⁵, Kristi R Griffiths⁶

Affiliations

¹ Centre & Discipline of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Division of Psychiatry, UWA Medical School, Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Australia. Electronic address: hugo.morandini@uwa.edu.au.
² Centre & Discipline of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Perth, Australia.
³ Division of Psychiatry, UWA Medical School, Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Centre & Discipline of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
⁵ School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ The Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW, Australia.

PMID: 34509772
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105791

Abstract

The development of Vigilant Attention (VA), the ability to focus and maintain our attention to repetitive and cognitively unchallenging tasks over time, has been investigated for more than a decade. The development of this critical executive function across the lifespan has been characterised by a rapid improvement in VA performance throughout childhood and adolescence, a steady improvement in adulthood and a slow decline in older adulthood. However, the development of the neural correlates of VA in children and adolescents remains poorly understood. Using a cross-sectional design, the present study used a meta-analytically defined VA network in children and adolescents to explore the developmental trend of the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) within the VA network across two independent cohorts. The results showed a linear and non-linear decrease of rsFC between the left and right VA brain regions across age. However, the results could not be reproduced in the replication cohort, potentially due to a smaller sample size. Based on previous findings from behavioural studies, the present findings suggest that changes in rsFC may underlie a developmental shift in cognitive strategies in neurotypical children and adolescents.

Keywords: Children; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Neurodevelopment; Vigilant Attention.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Brain Mapping
Brain*
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Neural Pathways
Wakefulness