The developmental trajectories of many human abilities, including cognitive, motor, and sensory functions, are intricately linked. Thus, a complete understanding of the development of one function relies upon understanding its interactions with the others. One way to study these interactions is to examine how different parts of the brain communicate to support these functions. Brain areas are organized into functional networks, and the complex interactions among these networks can reveal principles about the relationships among numerous human abilities. Dr. Greene’s research uses cutting-edge tools from cognitive neuroscience to study the development of this complex network organization at a whole-brain level and how it supports the development of human behavior and cognition.

In this talk, Dr. Greene will first discuss how her lab uses brain imaging methods, particularly resting-state functional connectivity MRI, to investigate the development of functional brain networks at the group level. Then, she will describe how machine learning approaches can be used to make predictions about individuals and their development. Next, she will talk about an exciting direction of research using highly-sampled brain network data to extract information at the level of single individuals. Finally, Dr. Greene will discuss her future directions aimed at linking brain network development to behavioral and cognitive development.