Holistic brain functional parcellation in young children

Motivation: Early brain function differs significantly from adults, but the lack of a dedicated children's parcellation atlas makes studying brain developmental patterns challenging. Goal(s): To create a child-specific whole-brain functional parcellation that enables comprehensive analysis of functional networks across the brain. Approach: We preprocess the (0-5years) children's resting-state fMRI data, and employ group independent component analysis, probabilistic threshold-free cluster enhancement, and a winner-takes-all strategy to functionally parcellate the brain. Results: Our early life functional parcellation closely resembles adult parcellations in primary function networks and the default mode network, with some differences observed in other higher-order networks. Impact: We present a comprehensive whole-brain functional parcellation for infants and young children, offering a detailed view of early brain function. This parcellation supports studies on brain development and advances research on disorders affecting infants and young children.