title: Imaging Brain Development: Benefiting from Individual Variability.
abstract: Human brain development is a complex process that evolves from early childhood to young adulthood. Major advances in brain imaging are increasingly being used to characterize the developing brain. These advances have further helped to elucidate the dynamic maturational processes that lead to the emergence of complex cognitive abilities in both typical and atypical development. However, conventional approaches involve categorical group comparison models and tend to disregard the role of widespread interindividual variability in brain development. This review highlights how this variability can inform our understanding of developmental processes. The latest studies in the field of brain development are reviewed, with a particular focus on the role of individual variability and the consequent heterogeneity in brain structural and functional development. This review also highlights how such heterogeneity might be utilized to inform our understanding of complex neuropsychiatric disorders and recommends the use of more dimensional approaches to study brain development.
authors.affiliation: International Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound (BRAMS), Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Megha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharda
authors.affiliation: International Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound (BRAMS), Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicholas E V
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: International Laboratory for Brain Music and Sound (BRAMS), Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada. ; Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Krista L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hyde
keywords: brain development; cortical trajectories; individual differences; variability