Division-Specific Organization of a Shared Functional Scaffold in the Early-Life Human Brain
- 1University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
Early cognition and behavior emerge from coordinated maturation of functional systems spanning the brain, making cross-division integration essential for defining whole-brain architecture and understanding its role in neurodevelopment. Yet early human functional development is still largely investigated through cortical networks or through isolated, coarsely resolved noncortical structures, leaving unclear how this integrated architecture is organized across the cerebral cortex, subcortex and cerebellum. Moving beyond structure-isolated and adult-derived maps, we create a reproducible, fine-grained Early-Life Whole-Brain Functional Parcellation (UNC-ELF) spanning birth to six years. Using this framework, we identify a shared functional scaffold expressed through distinct division-specific modes: differentiated and dual-polarity cortical organization, spatially graded cerebellar organization with blended functional transition zones, and nucleus-constrained subcortical mosaics of multi-system affiliation. Across early childhood, the scaffold is selectively refined through heterogeneous, nonlinear connectivity trajectories, with major inflections concentrated in infancy. Age-, sex- and prospective cognition-related variation is differentially encoded across distinct connectomic components. Together, these findings reframe early functional brain development as coordinated refinement of a shared but nonuniform whole-brain scaffold and establish UNC-ELF as a unified reference for resolving typical and atypical functional organization across the developing brain.
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BibTeX
@misc{hu2026divisionspecific,
title = {{Division-Specific Organization of a Shared Functional Scaffold in the Early-Life Human Brain}},
author = {D. Hu and J. Cheng and K. Han and Z. Wu and W. Yin and Y. Sun and J. Liu and S.-C. Hung and L. Wang and J. R. Cohen and W. Lin and G. Li},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.14.751555},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.751555v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Division-Specific Organization of a Shared Functional Scaffold in the Early-Life Human Brain
AU - D. Hu
AU - J. Cheng
AU - K. Han
AU - Z. Wu
AU - W. Yin
AU - Y. Sun
AU - J. Liu
AU - S.-C. Hung
AU - L. Wang
AU - J. R. Cohen
AU - W. Lin
AU - G. Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.14.751555
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.751555v1
AB - Early cognition and behavior emerge from coordinated maturation of functional systems spanning the brain, making cross-division integration essential for defining whole-brain architecture and understanding its role in neurodevelopment. Yet early human functional development is still largely investigated through cortical networks or through isolated, coarsely resolved noncortical structures, leaving unclear how this integrated architecture is organized across the cerebral cortex, subcortex and cerebellum. Moving beyond structure-isolated and adult-derived maps, we create a reproducible, fine-grained Early-Life Whole-Brain Functional Parcellation (UNC-ELF) spanning birth to six years. Using this framework, we identify a shared functional scaffold expressed through distinct division-specific modes: differentiated and dual-polarity cortical organization, spatially graded cerebellar organization with blended functional transition zones, and nucleus-constrained subcortical mosaics of multi-system affiliation. Across early childhood, the scaffold is selectively refined through heterogeneous, nonlinear connectivity trajectories, with major inflections concentrated in infancy. Age-, sex- and prospective cognition-related variation is differentially encoded across distinct connectomic components. Together, these findings reframe early functional brain development as coordinated refinement of a shared but nonuniform whole-brain scaffold and establish UNC-ELF as a unified reference for resolving typical and atypical functional organization across the developing brain.
ER -