Re-imagining FMRI for Awake Behaving Infants

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Sep 10

PMID 32908125

Citations 21

Authors

C T Ellis

L J Skalaban

T S Yates

V R Bejjanki

N I Cordova

N B Turk-Browne

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Thousands of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have provided important insight into the human brain. However, only a handful of these studies tested infants while they were awake, because of the significant and unique methodological challenges involved. We report our efforts to address these challenges, with the goal of creating methods for awake infant fMRI that can reveal the inner workings of the developing, preverbal mind. We use these methods to collect and analyze two fMRI datasets obtained from infants during cognitive tasks, released publicly with this paper. In these datasets, we explore and evaluate data quantity and quality, task-evoked activity, and preprocessing decisions. We disseminate these methods by sharing two software packages that integrate infant-friendly cognitive tasks and eye-gaze monitoring with fMRI acquisition and analysis. These resources make fMRI a feasible and accessible technique for cognitive neuroscience in awake and behaving human infants.

Citing Articles

Data retention in awake infant fMRI: Lessons from more than 750 scanning sessions.

Behm L, Yates T, Trach J, Choi D, Du H, Osumah C bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 40060490 PMC: 11888208. DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.20.636736.

Movies reveal the fine-grained organization of infant visual cortex.

Ellis C, Yates T, Arcaro M, Turk-Browne N Elife. 2025; 12.

PMID: 40047799 PMC: 11884787. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.92119.

Infant sleep state coded from respiration and its relationship to the developing functional connectome: A feasibility study.

Mueller I, Rodriguez R, Pini N, Holland C, Ababio R, Inala S Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2025; 72:101525.

PMID: 39965287 PMC: 11876745. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101525.

Beyond motor learning: Insights from infant magnetic resonance imaging on the critical role of the cerebellum in behavioral development.

Wagner L, Cakar M, Banchik M, Chiem E, Glynn S, Than A Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2025; 72:101514.

PMID: 39919679 PMC: 11848473. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101514.

How will developmental neuroimaging contribute to the prediction of neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders? Challenges and opportunities.

Perez-Edgar K, Dozier M, Saxe R, MacDuffie K Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024; 71():101490.

PMID: 39700912 PMC: 11721882. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101490.

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