fMRI connectivity of expressive language in young children and adolescents

Studies of language representation in development have shown a bilateral distributed pattern of activation that becomes increasingly left-lateralized and focal from young childhood to adulthood. However, the level by which canonical and extra-canonical regions, including subcortical and cerebellar regions, contribute to language during development has not been well-characterized. In this study, we employed fMRI connectivity analyses (fcMRI) to characterize the distributed network supporting expressive language in a group of young children (age 4-6) and adolescents (age 16-18). We conducted an fcMRI analysis using seed-to-voxel and seed-to-ROI (region of interest) strategies to investigate interactions of left pars triangularis with other brain areas. The analyses showed significant interhemispheric connectivity in young children, with a minimal connectivity of the left pars triangularis to subcortical and cerebellar regions. In contrast, adolescents showed significant connectivity between the left IFG seed and left perisylvian cortex, left caudate and putamen, and regions of the right cerebellum. Importantly, fcMRI analyses indicated significant differences between groups at 3 anatomical clusters, including left IFG, left supramarginal gyrus, and right cerebellar crura, suggesting a role in the functional development of language.