From Geometry to Hierarchy: Charting the Dominant Modes of Human Cortical Function Through Development
- 1University of Oxford
Abstract
Cortical function in the human cortex is spatially patterned along a macroscale information processing hierarchy. This hierarchy tracks a sensory-association axis anchored at one end by unimodal sensory regions and at the other by transmodal association areas. Biophysical models of brain dynamics suggest that this axis should align with the dominant, resonant modes of cortical anatomy and geometry, but they do not. Instead, the dominant anatomical modes correspond to simple spatial gradients extending along rostro-caudal, medio-lateral, and dorso-ventral axes. How does this divergence between anatomical and functional modes of the cortex arise? Here, using four independent functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets spanning infancy to young adulthood (n=1,512, aged 0-21 years), we show that this spatial divergence is attributable to the maturation of long-range cortico-cortical inter-regional functional coupling. Specifically, we find that the dominant functional mode of the human cortex during the first 3 to 4 years of life closely resembles the rostro-caudal mode of cortical geometry, then shifts to a rudimentary sensory-association-like mode between 4 and 6 years of age and ultimately matures into a prototypical sensory-association mode by age 13. In infancy and early childhood, a linear model predicting the topography of the dominant functional mode from modes of cortical geometry substantially outperforms a model relying on the adult sensory-association mode, whereas the reverse is true in later stages of development. Furthermore, targeted removal of long-range connections causes the adult functional mode to regress from a sensory-association topography to an infant-like rostro-caudal mode. Our findings indicate that the maturation of long-range cortico-cortical coupling supports the gradual emergence of hierarchical modes of cortical function from an organization initially dominated by geometric constraints.
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BibTeX
@misc{holmes2026from,
title = {{From Geometry to Hierarchy: Charting the Dominant Modes of Human Cortical Function Through Development}},
author = {A. Holmes and K. Pavlovich and X. Qian and J. H. Zhou and Y. S. Chong and A. P. Tan and M. J. Meaney and J. G. Eriksson and D. S. Margulies and J. C. Pang and A. Fornito},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.11.750874},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750874v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - From Geometry to Hierarchy: Charting the Dominant Modes of Human Cortical Function Through Development
AU - A. Holmes
AU - K. Pavlovich
AU - X. Qian
AU - J. H. Zhou
AU - Y. S. Chong
AU - A. P. Tan
AU - M. J. Meaney
AU - J. G. Eriksson
AU - D. S. Margulies
AU - J. C. Pang
AU - A. Fornito
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.11.750874
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750874v1
AB - Cortical function in the human cortex is spatially patterned along a macroscale information processing hierarchy. This hierarchy tracks a sensory-association axis anchored at one end by unimodal sensory regions and at the other by transmodal association areas. Biophysical models of brain dynamics suggest that this axis should align with the dominant, resonant modes of cortical anatomy and geometry, but they do not. Instead, the dominant anatomical modes correspond to simple spatial gradients extending along rostro-caudal, medio-lateral, and dorso-ventral axes. How does this divergence between anatomical and functional modes of the cortex arise? Here, using four independent functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets spanning infancy to young adulthood (n=1,512, aged 0-21 years), we show that this spatial divergence is attributable to the maturation of long-range cortico-cortical inter-regional functional coupling. Specifically, we find that the dominant functional mode of the human cortex during the first 3 to 4 years of life closely resembles the rostro-caudal mode of cortical geometry, then shifts to a rudimentary sensory-association-like mode between 4 and 6 years of age and ultimately matures into a prototypical sensory-association mode by age 13. In infancy and early childhood, a linear model predicting the topography of the dominant functional mode from modes of cortical geometry substantially outperforms a model relying on the adult sensory-association mode, whereas the reverse is true in later stages of development. Furthermore, targeted removal of long-range connections causes the adult functional mode to regress from a sensory-association topography to an infant-like rostro-caudal mode. Our findings indicate that the maturation of long-range cortico-cortical coupling supports the gradual emergence of hierarchical modes of cortical function from an organization initially dominated by geometric constraints.
ER -