Interrelation Among the Developmental Trajectories of Brain, Cognition and Behavior During Adolescence

During adolescence, the dynamic change of brain structure and function underlies the rapid maturation of cognition and behavior. However, it remains underexplored how distinct regional brain growth patterns are related to the development curves of cognition and behavior in large, longitudinal samples. To investigate that, we employed data of 2553 children from Adolescent Brain Cognitive Developmental study, including brain morphological features, cognitive and behavioral measures from ages 9-10 to 13-14 years old. Linear mixed effects model and latent growth curve analysis were first used to estimate the development trajectories of 302 brain features, 5 cognitive and 20 behavior measures. We then applied a regularized canonical correlation analysis on the resultant trajectory characteristics of brain features and those of cognition and behavior. Two pairs of significant and robust intriguing associations were identified between brain and behavior. The first pair of components highlighted the association of the increasing rate of bilateral cerebellar volume as well as cerebral white matter volume with the decreasing rate of internalizing behavior problems. Whereas, the second pair of components emphasized the relationship between crystallized intelligence and cerebral white matter volume as well as left and right ventral diencephalon volume at baseline. These findings provide us a precise understanding of how brain maturation is associated with cognition and emotional regulation.