Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are complex, often emerging from multiple atypical processes
within specified domains over the course of development. Characterizing the development
of the neural circuits supporting these domains may help break down the components
of complex disorders and reveal variations in functioning associated with psychiatric
risk. This review highlights the current and potential role of infant task-based functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in elucidating the developmental neurobiology of
psychiatric disorders. Task-fMRI measures evoked brain activity in response to specific
stimuli through changes in the blood oxygen level–dependent signal. First, we review
extant studies using task-fMRI from birth through the first few years of life and
synthesize current evidence for when, where, and how different neural computations
are performed across the infant brain. Neural circuits for sensory perception, the
perception of abstract categories, and the detection of statistical regularities have
been characterized with task-fMRI in infants, providing developmental context for
identifying and interpreting variation in the functioning of neural circuits related
to psychiatric risk. Next, we discuss studies that specifically examine variation
in the functioning of these neural circuits during infancy in relation to risk for
psychiatric disorders. These studies reveal when maturation of specific neural circuits
diverges, the influence of environmental risk factors, and the potential utility for
task-fMRI to facilitate early treatment or prevention of later psychiatric problems.
Finally, we provide considerations for future infant task-fMRI studies with the potential
to advance understanding of both functioning of neural circuits during infancy and
subsequent risk for psychiatric disorders.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 19, 2023
Accepted:
January 12,
2023
Received in revised form:
December 19,
2022
Received:
July 1,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry.
