title: The development of human amygdala functional connectivity at rest from 4 to 23 years: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: Functional connections (FC) between the amygdala and cortical and subcortical regions underlie a range of affective and cognitive processes. Despite the central role amygdala networks have in these functions, the normative developmental emergence of FC between the amygdala and the rest of the brain is still largely undefined. This study employed amygdala subregion maps and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to characterize the typical development of human amygdala FC from age 4 to 23years old (n=58). Amygdala FC with subcortical and limbic regions was largely stable across this developmental period. However, three cortical regions exhibited age-dependent changes in FC: amygdala FC with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) increased with age, amygdala FC with a region including the insula and superior temporal sulcus decreased with age, and amygdala FC with a region encompassing the parahippocampal gyrus and posterior cingulate also decreased with age. The transition from childhood to adolescence (around age 10years) marked an important change-point in the nature of amygdala-cortical FC. We distinguished unique developmental patterns of coupling for three amygdala subregions and found particularly robust convergence of FC for all subregions with the mPFC. These findings suggest that there are extensive changes in amygdala-cortical functional connectivity that emerge between childhood and adolescence.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Electronic address: ljgabarddurnam@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Laurel J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gabard-Durnam
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goff
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Dylan G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Gee
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Humphreys
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Psychology, Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Telzer
authors.affiliation: University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Zurich, CH 8006, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hare
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Nim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tottenham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Amygdala; Amygdala subnuclei; Development; Medial pre-frontal cortex; Resting-state