Late childhood and early adolescence is characterized by substantial brain maturation which contributes to both adult-like and age-dependent resting-state network connectivity patterns. However, it remains unclear whether these functional network characteristics in children are subject to differential modulation by distinct cognitive demands as previously found in adults. We conducted network analyses on fMRI data from 60 children (aged 9–12) during resting and during three distinct tasks involving decision making, visual perception, and spatial working memory. Graph measures of network architecture, functional integration, and flexibility were calculated for each of the four states. During resting state, the children’s network architecture was similar to that in young adults (N = 60, aged 20–23) but the degree of similarity was age- and network-dependent. During the task states, the children's whole-brain network exhibited enhanced integration in response to increased cognitive demand. Additionally, the frontoparietal network showed flexibility in connectivity patterns across states while networks implicated in motor and visual processing remained relatively stable. Exploratory analyses suggest different relationships between behavioral performance and connectivity profiles for the working memory and perceptual tasks. Together, our findings demonstrate state- and age-dependent features in functional network connectivity during late childhood, potentially providing markers for brain and cognitive development.

儿童晚期和青春期早期的特征是大量的大脑成熟，这有助于像成年人一样和依赖年龄的静止状态网络连接模式。然而，目前尚不清楚儿童中的这些功能网络特征是否会像先前在成人中那样受到明显的认知需求的差异调节。我们对来自60名儿童（9至12岁）在休息时以及在涉及决策，视觉感知和空间工作记忆的三个不同任务期间的功能磁共振成像数据进行了网络分析。针对这四个状态分别计算了网络架构，功能集成和灵活性的图形度量。在休息状态下，儿童的网络架构类似于年轻人（N= 60，年龄在20-23岁之间），但相似程度取决于年龄和网络。在任务状态下，儿童的全脑网络表现出增强的整合能力，以应对不断增长的认知需求。此外，额叶前的网络在跨州的连接模式上显示出灵活性，而牵涉到运动和视觉处理的网络则保持相对稳定。探索性分析表明，行为绩效与工作记忆和感知任务的连接配置文件之间存在不同的关系。总之，我们的发现证明了儿童后期功能网络连接中与状态和年龄相关的特征，可能为大脑和认知发展提供标志。