Measuring and interpreting individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment

Halie A Olson¹, M Catalina Camacho², Gavkhar Abdurokhmonova³, Sahar Ahmad⁴, Emily M Chen⁵, Haerin Chung⁶, Renata Di Lorenzo⁶, Áine T Dineen⁷, Melanie Ganz⁸, Roxane Licandro⁹, Caroline Magnain¹⁰, Natasha Marrus¹¹, Sarah A McCormick¹², Tara M Rutter¹³, Lauren Wagner¹⁴, Kali Woodruff Carr¹⁵, Lilla Zöllei¹⁰, Kelly A Vaughn¹⁶, Kathrine Skak Madsen¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, MO, USA. Electronic address: camachoc@wustl.edu.
³ University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁶ Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁸ Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen & Neurobiology Research Unit, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Medical University of Vienna, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research (CIR), Early Life Image Analysis (ELIA) Group, Austria.
¹⁰ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, MO, USA.
¹² Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
¹⁴ Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁵ Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁷ Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark.

PMID: 40056738
PMCID: PMC11930173
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101539

Review

Measuring and interpreting individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment

Halie A Olson et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2025 Jun.

. 2025 Jun:73:101539.

doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101539. Epub 2025 Mar 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, MO, USA. Electronic address: camachoc@wustl.edu.
³ University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁶ Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁸ Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen & Neurobiology Research Unit, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Medical University of Vienna, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research (CIR), Early Life Image Analysis (ELIA) Group, Austria.
¹⁰ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, MO, USA.
¹² Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
¹⁴ Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁵ Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁷ Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark.

PMID: 40056738
PMCID: PMC11930173
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101539

Abstract

As scientists interested in fetal, infant, and toddler (FIT) neurodevelopment, our research questions often focus on how individual children differ in their neurodevelopment and the predictive value of those individual differences for long-term neural and behavioral outcomes. Measuring and interpreting individual differences in neurodevelopment can present challenges: Is there a "standard" way for the human brain to develop? How do the semantic, practical, or theoretical constraints that we place on studying "development" influence how we measure and interpret individual differences? While it is important to consider these questions across the lifespan, they are particularly relevant for conducting and interpreting research on individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment due to the rapid, profound, and heterogeneous changes happening during this period, which may be predictive of long-term outcomes. This article, therefore, has three goals: 1) to provide an overview about how individual differences in neurodevelopment are studied in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2) to identify challenges and considerations when studying individual differences in neurodevelopment, and 3) to discuss potential implications and solutions moving forward.

Keywords: Development; Fetal; Individual differences; Infant; Neuroimaging; Toddler.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Individual differences in developmental trajectories illustrated by three hypothetical individuals in pink, black, and mint. Variability can be observed in the a) asymptotes and/or intercepts reflecting stable individual differences in brain structure or function despite superimposed ongoing maturation; b) phase of maturation capturing individual differences in the age at which specific developmental milestones are reached; c) slope, representing individual differences in the rate of change over time, and d) shape depicting individual differences in pattern or curve of the developmental trajectories.

**Fig. 2**
Trajectory dynamics of the developing brain during the fetal, infant, and toddler (FIT) period. The FIT period is characterized by rapid brain development, including (top/middle) cortical folding, volume expansion, and changing tissue contrast, i.e., due to ongoing myelination, as well as (bottom) expanding functional connectivity patterns, here illustrated with the default mode network (seed placed in the medial prefrontal cortex). Image courtesy: Fetal T2-weighted images, Gregor Kasprian, Medical University of Vienna; infant T2-weighted images from Korom, Camacho, et al., (2022); surface extractions, Roxane Licandro, Medical University of Vienna; functional connectivity maps based on data from Howell et al., 2019.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Measuring and interpreting individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment

Affiliations

Measuring and interpreting individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

Research Materials