Prenatal Environmental Unpredictability: Effects on Neonatal Functional Connectivity and Socioemotional Functioning During Infancy

Abstract

The developing brain undergoes rapid maturation during the fetal period and infancy. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a promising neuroimaging technique to map how the brain is functionally connected while at “rest.” Extant work using this method has provided foundational insights into mapping specific neural circuitries. Further, the evolving field of functional connectomics, in which the brain is conceptualized as a connected network, has made several strides in demonstrating how the developing brain matures into an integrated functional network. The present dissertation draws upon data from a longitudinal study of pregnancy and infant development to investigate the early influences of neurodevelopment and prospective associations with later developmental outcomes. In Study I, it was found that increased exposure to unpredictability (e.g., parental job or residential transitions) during the prenatal period is related to reduced functional connectivity between the amygdala and visual regions in 1-month-olds. Post hoc tests further revealed that this association was stronger for male infants. These findings demonstrate that prenatal unpredictability may serve to alter functional connectivity among regions involved in bottom-up visual attention processes. In Study II, a machine learning technique was applied to test whether functional connectomes at 1 month could predict prospective socioemotional functioning at 1 year old. Using connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) it was found that a predictive network including connections in the limbic, default mode, and visual networks predicted lower socioemotional competence at 1 year old. This result demonstrates that a distributed network implicated in social cognition, emotion, and visual attention underlies socioemotional functioning. Taken together, these studies contribute to our broader understanding of the developing brain, including prenatal environmental influences and prospective associations with later behavioral outcomes.