Long-range temporal correlation development in resting-state fMRI signal in preterm infants: Scanned shortly after birth and at term-equivalent age

Author summary In our study, we explored how the brains of babies born earlier than normal develop up until the time when most babies are born. We used a special technique that examines the complexity of the functional activity of different regions of the brain. What we discovered was that starting shortly after birth, the measure of complexity was more random than ordered. However, as the babies got older, all areas of their brain showed functional activity that became more ordered. Moreover, it appears that some areas of the brain, such as those responsible for moving and seeing, became more ordered faster than other areas, such as ones located in the frontal area of the brain. This insight into how brains develop in the early weeks of life, from more random to more ordered, and in some regions more than others, may help inform neuroscientists and clinicians about what is happening to the brain in the earliest stages of life outside the womb.