Objective: To investigate the characteristics of cognitive development in elementary school children using rest-fMRI methods.
Methods: Twenty-nine normal school children were divided into three groups according to their ages (8, 10 & 12 years old) and received the resting-state fMRI scans. A regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach was used to analyze blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI (BOLD-fMRI) data in resting state. The fMRI data were processed with software SPM2 and REST 1.2.
Results: Compared with younger groups (10 vs 8, 12 vs 10, 12 vs 8), the elder groups showed more increases in superior temporal gyrus (Z = 2.83, Z = 3.21), middle temporal gyrus (Z = 3.74, Z = 3.19, Z = 4.26), inferior temporal gyrus (Z = 3.01) and lentiform nucleus (Z = 3.31). In addition, the ReHo differences were demonstrated in superior frontal gyrus (Z = 3.21), middle frontal gyrus (Z = 3.19, Z = 3.22), medial frontal gyrus (Z = 3.15), lingual gyrus (Z = 3.43) and cerebellum (Z = 3.11, Z = 2.97) increased more in 12 years old group (12 vs 10, 12 vs 8). And the precuneus (Z = 2.95) and posterior cingulate (Z = 2.64) had increasing ReHo values with the age growth (12 vs 8).
Conclusion: The function of execution control, accommodation of attention, visual spatial integration and default mode network became gradually developed with increasing age.