Tracking Synergistic and Redundant Neural Interactions from Pre-term to Term Infant Brains

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 

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.