Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood
8 affiliations
- 1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
- 2Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
- 3Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
- 4Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, The Gambia
- 5Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK
- 6School of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, UK
- 7Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, Ireland
- 8Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA
Abstract
Functional brain network organization, measured by functional connectivity (FC), reflects key neurodevelopmental processes for healthy development. Early exposure to adversity, e.g. undernutrition, affects neurodevelopment, observable via disrupted FC, and leads to poorer outcomes from preschool age onward. We assessed longitudinally the impact of early growth trajectories on developmental FC in a rural Gambian population from age 5 to 24 months. To investigate how these early trajectories relate to later childhood outcomes, we assessed cognitive flexibility at 3-5 years. We observed that early physical growth before the fifth month of life drove optimal developmental trajectories of FC that in turn predicted cognitive flexibility at pre-school age. In contrast to previously studied developmental populations, this Gambian sample exhibited long-range interhemispheric FC that decreased with age. Our results highlight the measurable effects that poor growth in early infancy has on brain development and the subsequent impact on pre-school age cognitive development, underscoring the need for early life interventions throughout global settings of adversity.
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BibTeX
@article{bulgarelli2026growth,
title = {{Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood}},
author = {Chiara Bulgarelli and Anna Blasi and Samantha McCann and Bosiljka Milosavljevic and Giulia Ghillia and Ebrima Mbye and Ebou Touray and Tijan Fadera and Lena Acolatse and Sophie E. Moore and Sarah Lloyd‐Fox and Clare E. Elwell and Adam T. Eggebrecht and BRIGHT Study Team},
journal = {eLife},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.7554/elife.94194.4},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.94194.4},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood
AU - Chiara Bulgarelli
AU - Anna Blasi
AU - Samantha McCann
AU - Bosiljka Milosavljevic
AU - Giulia Ghillia
AU - Ebrima Mbye
AU - Ebou Touray
AU - Tijan Fadera
AU - Lena Acolatse
AU - Sophie E. Moore
AU - Sarah Lloyd‐Fox
AU - Clare E. Elwell
AU - Adam T. Eggebrecht
AU - BRIGHT Study Team
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/05
JO - eLife
DO - 10.7554/elife.94194.4
UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.94194.4
AB - Functional brain network organization, measured by functional connectivity (FC), reflects key neurodevelopmental processes for healthy development. Early exposure to adversity, e.g. undernutrition, affects neurodevelopment, observable via disrupted FC, and leads to poorer outcomes from preschool age onward. We assessed longitudinally the impact of early growth trajectories on developmental FC in a rural Gambian population from age 5 to 24 months. To investigate how these early trajectories relate to later childhood outcomes, we assessed cognitive flexibility at 3-5 years. We observed that early physical growth before the fifth month of life drove optimal developmental trajectories of FC that in turn predicted cognitive flexibility at pre-school age. In contrast to previously studied developmental populations, this Gambian sample exhibited long-range interhemispheric FC that decreased with age. Our results highlight the measurable effects that poor growth in early infancy has on brain development and the subsequent impact on pre-school age cognitive development, underscoring the need for early life interventions throughout global settings of adversity.
SN - 2050-084X
ER -