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As the size of functional and structural MRI datasets expands, it becomes increasingly important to establish a baseline from which diagnostic relevance may be determined, a processing strategy that efficiently prepares data for analysis, and a statistical approach that identifies important effects in a manner that is both robust and reproducible. In this paper, we introduce a multivariate analytic approach that optimizes sensitivity and reduces unnecessary testing. We demonstrate the utility of this mega-analytic approach by identifying the effects of age and gender on the resting state networks of 603 healthy adolescents and adults (mean age: 23.4 years, range: 12 to 71 years). Data were collected on the same scanner, preprocessed using an automated analysis pipeline based in SPM, and studied using group independent component analysis. Resting state networks were identified and evaluated in terms of three primary outcome measures: time course spectral power, spatial map intensity, and functional network connectivity. Results revealed robust effects of age on all three outcome measures, largely indicating decreases in network coherence and connectivity with increasing age. Gender effects were of smaller magnitude but suggested stronger intra-network connectivity in females and more inter-network connectivity in males, particularly with regard to sensorimotor networks. These findings, along with the analysis approach and statistical framework described here, provide a useful baseline for future investigations of brain networks in health and disease.

The Frontal Lobes: Development, Function and Pathology. Jarl Risberg and Jordan Grafman (Eds.). 2006. New York: Cambridge University Press. 240 pp., $70.00 (PB)The Frontal Lobes: Development, Function and Pathologyis an edited volume comprised of chapters that are the result of presentations at the annual Advanced Studies Institute sponsored by the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) and by the Vivian Smith Foundation. The eight chapters represent multiple approaches to studying or understanding the frontal lobes, including: evolution and genetics, primate frontal lobe neuroanatomy, cognitive neuroscience models of frontal lobe functioning, microcircuit models based on single neuron recording, developmental models of frontal lobe functioning, case studies of frontal lobe lesion patients, functional neuroimaging of frontal lobe activity, and postmortem neuropathological findings in demented patients. This is a solid but not comprehensive list of approaches to understanding frontal lobe functioning, but the editors clearly state that this volume is not designed to be an exhaustive review. Rather, it is a volume that is better viewed as the state of the art of selected approaches to frontal lobe research as of about 2004, when most of the authors presented a variation of the chapter to the INS Summer Institute. With these qualifications in mind, I can say that the volume is a useful overview that will inform the reader of current and future directions in frontal lobe research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increased temporal and frontal slow-wave delta (1-4 Hz) and theta (4-7 Hz) activities are the most consistent resting-state neural abnormalities reported in schizophrenia. The frontal lobe is associated with negative symptoms and cognitive abilities such as attention, with negative symptoms and impaired attention associated with poor functional capacity., Aims: To establish whether frontal dysfunction, as indexed by slowing, would be associated with functional impairments., Method: Eyes-closed magnetoencephalography data were collected in 41 participants with schizophrenia and 37 healthy controls, and frequency-domain source imaging localised delta and theta activity., Results: Elevated delta and theta activity in right frontal and right temporoparietal regions was observed in the schizophrenia v., Control Group: In schizophrenia, right-frontal delta activity was uniquely associated with negative but not positive symptoms. In the full sample, increased right-frontal delta activity predicted poorer attention and functional capacity., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that treatment-associated decreases in slow-wave activity could be accompanied by improved functional outcome and thus better prognosis., (© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016.)