TY - JOUR
T1 - The development of hub architecture in the human functional brain network
AU - Hwang, Kai
AU - Hallquist, Michael N.
AU - Luna, Beatriz
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH R01 MH067924 and R01 MH080243 to B.L., and F32 MH090629 to M.N.H.). Computational resources were provided in part by the Center for Simulation and Modeling at the University of Pittsburgh, and by the National Institutes of Health through resources provided by the National Resource for Biomedical Supercomputing (P41 RR06009), which is part of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Functional hubs are brain regions that play a crucial role in facilitating communication among parallel, distributed brain networks. The developmental emergence and stability of hubs, however, is not well understood. The current study used measures of network topology drawn from graph theory to investigate the development of functional hubs in 99 participants, 10-20 years of age. We found that hub architecture was evident in late childhood and was stable from adolescence to early adulthood. Connectivity between hub and non-hub ("spoke") regions, however, changed with development. From childhood to adolescence, the strength of connections between frontal hubs and cortical and subcortical spoke regions increased. From adolescence to adulthood, hub-spoke connections with frontal hubs were stable, whereas connectivity between cerebellar hubs and cortical spoke regions increased. Our findings suggest that a developmentally stable functional hub architecture provides the foundation of information flow in the brain, whereas connections between hubs and spokes continue to develop, possibly supporting mature cognitive function.
AB - Functional hubs are brain regions that play a crucial role in facilitating communication among parallel, distributed brain networks. The developmental emergence and stability of hubs, however, is not well understood. The current study used measures of network topology drawn from graph theory to investigate the development of functional hubs in 99 participants, 10-20 years of age. We found that hub architecture was evident in late childhood and was stable from adolescence to early adulthood. Connectivity between hub and non-hub ("spoke") regions, however, changed with development. From childhood to adolescence, the strength of connections between frontal hubs and cortical and subcortical spoke regions increased. From adolescence to adulthood, hub-spoke connections with frontal hubs were stable, whereas connectivity between cerebellar hubs and cortical spoke regions increased. Our findings suggest that a developmentally stable functional hub architecture provides the foundation of information flow in the brain, whereas connections between hubs and spokes continue to develop, possibly supporting mature cognitive function.
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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhs227
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhs227
M3 - Article
C2 - 22875861
AN - SCOPUS:84886407072
SN - 1047-3211
VL - 23
SP - 2380
EP - 2393
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
IS - 10
ER -