White matter development and early cognition in babies and toddlers.

ABSTRACT: The normal myelination of neuronal axons is essential to neurodevelopment, allowing fast inter-neuronal communication. The most dynamic period of myelination occurs in the first few years of life, in concert with a dramatic increase in cognitive abilities. How these processes relate, however, is still unclear. Here we aimed to use a data-driven technique to parcellate developing white matter into regions with consistent white matter growth trajectories and investigate how these regions related to cognitive development. In a large sample of 183 children aged 3 months to 4 years, we calculated whole brain myelin volume fraction (VFM ) maps using quantitative multicomponent relaxometry. We used spatial independent component analysis (ICA) to blindly segment these quantitative VFM images into

SUBMITTER: O'Muircheartaigh J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4336562 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature