Functional plasticity development of visual-motor cortex in neonatal brain is modulated by postnatal experience

The present study aimed to investigate how the brain entropy (BEN) changes with age during early development and whether it exists differences between term- and preterm-born neonates. The results found that the BEN in visual-motor cortex was positively correlated with PMA but had no significant correlation with GA, which showed an increase in preterm- than term-born neonates with matched PMA. Moreover, both age and preterm have a significant effect on the functional connectivity between visual-motor cortex and other regions. These findings suggest the functional plasticity development of visual-motor cortex is modulated by early postnatal experience in human neonates.