Mapping Neurodevelopmental Trajectories of Thalamo-Cortical Systems Across the Mental Health Spectra

Dysruption of thalamocortical networks - critical for cognitive, sensory, and motor function - has been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders and mechanisms of clinical phenotypes. More specifically, patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder consistently show a combination of thalamic hypo-connectivity with the prefrontal cortex and thalamic hyper-connectivity with the sensorimotor cortex. Critical knowledge gaps remain with respect to the normal developmental trajectory of thalamocortical networks and onset of thalamocortical disturbances in psychosis as well as how individual differences in thalamocortical connectivity relate to cognitive impairment in individuals expressing psychosis spectrum symptoms. The aim of our study was to characterize the thalamocortical network development across the mental health spectra.