Tracking Synergistic and Redundant Neural Interactions from Pre-term to Term Infant Brains
Presented During:
Thursday, June 26, 2025: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Room:
Great Hall
Poster No:
1007
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Xinjie Qian1, Weixiong Jiang2, Weiyan Yin1, Zhengwang Wu1, Gang Li1, Li Wang1, Tengfei Li1, Hongtu Zhu1, Weili Lin1
Institutions:
1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 2Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Resting functional MRI (rsfMRI), which relies on the temporal synchrony of BOLD signals among different brain regions, has been widely used to characterize the maturation of canonical brain functional networks throughout early infancy (Gao, 2014). Recently, Luppi et al. advanced this field by proposing an information-resolved framework to decompose BOLD signals into synergistic and redundant neural information processing among brain regions (Luppi, 2022). They reported that redundant interactions (RI) are more associated with basic brain functional networks, indicating network robustness. In contrast, synergistic interactions (SI) are linked to higher-order functional networks, reflecting integration to meet complex cognitive demands. While their results provide invaluable new insights into human neurocognitive architecture, the emergence of SI and RI during early infancy remains largely unknown. This study aimed to explore the developmental trajectories of SI and RI from preterm to term infants' brains, providing insights into network-specific vulnerabilities and their implications for neurodevelopment.
Methods:
We analyzed rsfMRI data from 623 participants (701 scans) obtained from the Developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP; Edwards, 2022). Preprocessed fMRI data were parcellated into 232 regions of interest and 8 functional networks using the Schaefer atlas (Schaefer, 2018). Functional interactions between brain regions were decomposed into synergistic and redundant interactions based on the Integrated Information Decomposition (Mediano, 2021). The relationship between synergy/redundancy and the ages of imaging sessions was modeled using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) at both the whole-brain and network-specific levels. To further explore the impact of birth age on synergy and redundancy at the term-equivalent age, participants were grouped into five groups based on their gestational ages at birth: < 28, 28-32, 32-35, 35-40, and > 40 wks, respectively. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine group differences.
Results:
While both whole-brain SI and RI showed an overall increase with age (Fig. 1), SI transitioned from zero to a rapid increase at ~35 wks, continued until ~42 wks, and then stabilized. In contrast, RI transitioned before 35 wks, continued until ~40 wks, and then decreased. At the network level, the limbic network showed a relatively stable pattern for both SI and RI, distinctly different from other networks. While the transition age for SI was consistently ~ 35 wks across all networks except the SUB, the somatomotor network (SOM) showed the highest SI, followed by the dorsal attention, visual, and other networks. For RI, the SOM not only had one of the two earliest transition age (~32.5 wks) but also the highest RI compared to other networks. Additionally, both the SOM and the salience network peaked around 41 weeks before declining. Significant differences among the five groups for both SI and RI (p < 0.001) were observed (Fig. 2), indicating that the term-equivalent SI and RI of premature infants remained significantly lower than those of full-term infants. Post-hoc tests further revealed that infants born after 40 weeks exhibit significantly higher median SI and RI compared to the other four groups. Moreover, infants born between 35–40 weeks show a significantly higher median RI than those born before 35 weeks.
Conclusions:
This study examined the temporal developmental patterns of SI and RI in the brains of preterm and term infants. The transition ages from zero to a rapid increase in RI occurred earlier than that of SI, suggesting the potential importance of establishing robust network interactions prior to the emergence of SI. Additionally, the SOM exhibited the highest levels of both SI and RI, highlighting the developmental priority of sensorimotor functions during early infancy. This study provides key insights into the distinct developmental features of SI and RI in the brains of preterm and full-term infants.
Lifespan Development:
Lifespan Development Other 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural)
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 2
Keywords:
Other - brain development; preterm infants; synergistic and redundant interactions; brain networks
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Provide references using APA citation style.
Luppi, A. I. (2022). A synergistic core for human brain evolution and cognition. Nature Neuroscience, 25(6), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01084-7
Edwards, A. D. (2022). The developing human connectome project neonatal data release. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16, 886772. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.886772
Mediano, P. A. M. (2021). Towards an extended taxonomy of information dynamics via Integrated Information Decomposition. arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.13186. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2109.13186
Schaefer, A. (2018). Local-global parcellation of the human cerebral cortex from intrinsic functional connectivity MRI. Cerebral Cortex, 28(9), 3095–3114. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx179