title: Responsiveness and functional connectivity of the scene-sensitive retrosplenial complex in 7-11-year-old children.
abstract: Brain imaging studies have identified two cortical areas, the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and the retrosplenial complex (RSC), that respond preferentially to the viewing of scenes. Contrary to the PPA, little is known about the functional maturation and cognitive control of the RSC. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and tasks that required attention to scene (or face) images and suppression of face (or scene) images, respectively, to investigate task-dependent modulation of activity in the RSC and whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) of this area in 7-11-year-old children and young adults. We compared responsiveness of the RSC with that of the PPA. The RSC was selectively activated by scene images in both groups, albeit less than the PPA. Children modulated activity between the tasks similarly in the RSC and PPA, and to the same extent as adults in PPA, whereas adults modulated activity in the RSC less than in PPA. In children, the whole brain FC of the RSC was stronger in the Sf than Fs task between the left RSC and right fusiform gyrus. The between groups comparison suggested stronger FC in children than adults in the Sf task between the right RSC and the left inferior parietal lobule and intraparietal sulcus. Together the results suggest that the function of the RSC and the related networks undergo dynamic changes over the development from 7-11-year-old children to adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Unit, Institute of Biomedicine/Physiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Unit, Institute of Biomedicine/Physiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory and Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Maksym
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokariev
authors.affiliation: Child Psychiatry, Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Eeva T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Aronen
authors.affiliation: Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Oili
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Salonen
authors.affiliation: Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
authors.forename: YuanYe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Unit, Institute of Biomedicine/Physiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory and Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: virve.vuontela@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Virve
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vuontela
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Unit, Institute of Biomedicine/Physiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory and Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland. Electronic address: syncarls@mappi.helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Synnöve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carlson
keywords: Attentional modulation; Brain maturation; Functional connectivity; N-back task; Scene-sensitive brain regions