Functional connectivity in the social perception pathway at birth is linked with attention to faces at 4 months.

Background: Processing faces and speech is supported by the right-lateralized social visual perception pathway (social pathway) involving medial temporal/visual 5 area (MT/V5) and superior temporal sulcus (STS). Little is known about development of the social pathway and its links with later social outcomes. We examined intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) in the right social pathway in neurotypical neonates, compared it with iFC in the left social and bilateral dorsal attention pathways, and interrogated prospective links between iFC and social attention in neurodiverse neonates.

Methods: iFC in the social and dorsal pathways was measured in 517 full-term neonates from the developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP) and 73 full-term Yale neonates [M =41.5 weeks (SD=1.9)]. Social attention was assessed in 36 Yale neonates at M =4.2 months (SD=0.4) months.

Results: In the dHCP sample, the iFC indices were positive in all the pathways (all p-values < 0.001) and did not vary by sex [all p>0.275], but the iFC in the right-lateralized social pathway was higher than in the remaining pathways [all p<0.001] and was positively associated with age at scan [r(517)=0.251, p<0.011]. In the prospective neurodiverse Yale sample, the iFC in the right social pathway was positively associated with social attention at 4 months [p=0.007], and greater social attention at 4 months predicted better social functioning in the second year [p=0.010].

Conclusions: The early development of intrinsic functional connectivity in the right social perception pathway represents an area of interest for identifying neural mechanisms underlying emergence of atypical social attention associated with autism.