Dissociable Changes of Frontal and Parietal Cortices in Inherent Functional Flexibility across the Human Life Span.
Extensive evidence suggests that frontoparietal regions can dynamically update their pattern of functional connectivity, supporting cognitive control and adaptive implementation of task demands. However, it is largely unknown whether this flexibly functional reconfiguration is intrinsic and occurs even in the absence of overt tasks. Based on recent advances in dynamics of resting-state functional resonance imaging (fMRI), we propose a probabilistic framework in which dynamic reconfiguration of intrinsic functional connectivity between each brain region and others can be represented as a probability distribution. A complexity measurement (i.e., entropy) was used to quantify functional flexibility, which characterizes heterogeneous connectivity between a particular region and others over time. Following this framework, we identified both functionally flexible and specialized regions over the human life span (112 healthy subjects from 13 to 76 years old). Across brainwide regions, we found regions showing high flexibility mainly in the higher-order association cortex, such as the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), lateral parietal cortex, and lateral temporal lobules. In contrast, visual, auditory, and sensory areas exhibited low flexibility. Furthermore, we observed that flexibility of the right LPFC improved during maturation and reduced due to normal aging, with the opposite occurring for the left lateral parietal cortex. Our findings reveal dissociable changes of frontal and parietal cortices over the life span in terms of inherent functional flexibility. This study not only provides a new framework to quantify the spatiotemporal behavior of spontaneous brain activity, but also sheds light on the organizational principle behind changes in brain function across the human life span.



Recent neuroscientific research has demonstrated that the human capability of adaptive task control is primarily the result of the flexible operation of frontal brain networks. However, it remains unclear whether this flexibly functional reconfiguration is intrinsic and occurs in the absence of an overt task. In this study, we propose a probabilistic framework to quantify the functional flexibility of each brain region using resting-state fMRI. We identify regions showing high flexibility mainly in the higher-order association cortex. In contrast, primary and unimodal visual and sensory areas show low flexibility. On the other hand, our findings reveal dissociable changes of frontal and parietal cortices in terms of inherent functional flexibility over the life span.
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Dazhi
D
Yin
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China.
Wenjing
W
Liu
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Kristina
0000-0002-4244-5636
K
Zeljic
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Zhiwei
0000-0002-5863-9785
Z
Wang
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Qian
Q
Lv
Department of Physics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China, and.
Mingxia
M
Fan
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China, Department of Psychological Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China chengwhb@aliyun.com zheng.wang@ion.ac.cn.
Wenhong
W
Cheng
Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China, chengwhb@aliyun.com zheng.wang@ion.ac.cn.
Zheng
Z
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
dynamic connectivity; functional flexibility; life span; probabilistic framework; resting-state fMRI
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