The relationship between biological and psychosocial risk factors and resting-state functional connectivity in 2-month-old Bangladeshi infants: A feasibility and pilot study

Adverse childhood experiences and subsequent physical and mental health among young adults: Results from six universities in China

Research has shown that individuals with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more likely to encounter heightened risks of physical and psychological challenges later in life. However, limited research has explored the comprehensive impact on the physical and mental health of young adults. Thus, we conducted a study to investigate the associations of ACEs with the physical and mental health of 18,723 college students in China. Their physical and mental health status was assessed using self-perceived health assessments, self-reported disease diagnoses, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7-item scale. Results showed that 82.6 % of participants had experienced at least one ACE, with 10.7 % reporting exposure to four or more ACEs. Compared to participants with low ACEs exposure (≤ 1), participants with high ACEs exposure (≥ 4) had a nearly twofold increase in the odds of cardiometabolic diseases (OR [95 % CI] = 2.06 [1.55-2.74]) and fractures (2.32 [1.88-2.87]). Additionally, individuals with high ACE exposure exhibited a threefold increased odds of severe anxiety symptoms (3.78 [2.59-5.51]) and bipolar disorder/schizophrenia (3.38 [2.18-5.23]). These findings highlight ACEs as a significant risk factor for poor physical and mental health among young adults. Targeted support and interventions for individuals with multiple ACEs may help mitigate their long-term disease burden.

Microstate Analysis of Continuous Infant EEG: Tutorial and Reliability

Microstate analysis of resting-state EEG is a unique data-driven method for identifying patterns of scalp potential topographies, or microstates, that reflect stable but transient periods of synchronized neural activity evolving dynamically over time. During infancy - a critical period of rapid brain development and plasticity - microstate analysis offers a unique opportunity for characterizing the spatial and temporal dynamics of brain activity. However, whether measurements derived from this approach (e.g., temporal properties, transition probabilities, neural sources) show strong psychometric properties (i.e., reliability) during infancy is unknown and key information for advancing our understanding of how microstates are shaped by early life experiences and whether they relate to individual differences in infant abilities. A lack of methodological resources for performing microstate analysis of infant EEG has further hindered adoption of this cutting-edge approach by infant researchers. As a result, in the current study, we systematically addressed these knowledge gaps and report that most microstate-based measurements of brain organization and functioning except for transition probabilities were stable with four minutes of video-watching resting-state data and highly internally consistent with just one minute. In addition to these results, we provide a step-by-step tutorial, accompanying website, and open-access data for performing microstate analysis using a free, user-friendly software called Cartool. Taken together, the current study supports the reliability and feasibility of using EEG microstate analysis to study infant brain development and increases the accessibility of this approach for the field of developmental neuroscience.

Examining the relationship between psychosocial adversity and inhibitory control: an fMRI study of children growing up in extreme poverty

Exposure to psychosocial adversity (PA) is associated with poor behavioral, physical, and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Growing evidence suggests that deficits in executive functions may in part moderate these outcomes, with inhibitory control as an example of such a putative moderator. However, much of the literature examining the development of inhibitory control has been based on children in higher resource environments, and little is known how growing up in a low resource setting might exacerbate the link between inhibitory control and health outcomes. In this context we collected fMRI data during a Go/No-Go inhibitory control task and PA variables for 68 children 5 to 7 years of age living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an area with a high prevalence of PA. The children's mothers completed behavioral questionnaires to assess the child's PA and their own PA. Whole-brain activation underlying inhibitory control was examined using the No-Go versus Go contrast, and associations with PA variables were assessed using whole-brain regressions. Childhood neglect was associated with weaker activation in the right posterior cingulate, whereas greater family conflict, economic stress, and maternal PA factors were associated with greater activation in the left medial frontal gyrus, right superior and middle frontal gyrus, and left cingulate gyrus. These data suggest that neural networks supporting inhibitory control processes may vary as a function of exposure to different types of PA, particularly between those related to threat and deprivation. Furthermore, increased activation in children with greater PA may serve as a compensatory mechanism, allowing them to maintain similar behavioral task performance.

A global multicohort study to map subcortical brain development and cognition in infancy and early childhood

The human brain grows quickly during infancy and early childhood, but factors influencing brain maturation in this period remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we harmonized data from eight diverse cohorts, creating one of the largest pediatric neuroimaging datasets to date focused on birth to 6 years of age. We mapped the developmental trajectory of intracranial and subcortical volumes in ∼2,000 children and studied how sociodemographic factors and adverse birth outcomes influence brain structure and cognition. The amygdala was the first subcortical volume to mature, whereas the thalamus exhibited protracted development. Males had larger brain volumes than females, and children born preterm or with low birthweight showed catch-up growth with age. Socioeconomic factors exerted region- and time-specific effects. Regarding cognition, males scored lower than females; preterm birth affected all developmental areas tested, and socioeconomic factors affected visual reception and receptive language. Brain-cognition correlations revealed region-specific associations.

Examining resting-state network connectivity in children exposed to perinatal maternal adversity using anatomically weighted functional connectivity (awFC) analyses; A preliminary report

Introduction

Environmental perturbations during critical periods can have pervasive, organizational effects on neurodevelopment. To date, the literature examining the long-term impact of early life adversity has largely investigated structural and functional imaging data outcomes independently. However, emerging research points to a relationship between functional connectivity and the brain’s underlying structural architecture. For instance, functional connectivity can be mediated by the presence of direct or indirect anatomical pathways. Such evidence warrants the use of structural and functional imaging in tandem to study network maturation. Accordingly, this study examines the impact of poor maternal mental health and socioeconomic context during the perinatal period on network connectivity in middle childhood using an anatomically weighted functional connectivity (awFC) approach. awFC is a statistical model that identifies neural networks by incorporating information from both structural and functional imaging data.

Methods

Resting-state fMRI and DTI scans were acquired from children aged 7–9 years old.

Results

Our results indicate that maternal adversity during the perinatal period can affect offspring’s resting-state network connectivity during middle childhood. Specifically, in comparison to controls, children of mothers who had poor perinatal maternal mental health and/or low socioeconomic status exhibited greater awFC in the ventral attention network.

Discussion

These group differences were discussed in terms of the role this network plays in attention processing and maturational changes that may accompany the consolidation of a more adult-like functional cortical organization. Furthermore, our results suggest that there is value in using an awFC approach as it may be more sensitive in highlighting connectivity differences in developmental networks associated with higher-order cognitive and emotional processing, as compared to stand-alone FC or SC analyses.

Neural Network Functional Interactions Mediate or Suppress WM-Emotional Behavior Relationships in Infants

BACKGROUND

Elucidating the neural basis of infant positive emotionality (PE) and negative emotionality (NE) can identify biomarkers of pathophysiological risk. Our goal was to determine how functional interactions among large-scale networks supporting emotional regulation influence WM microstructural-emotional behavior relationships in 3-month-old infants. We hypothesized that microstructural-emotional behavior relationships would be differentially mediated or suppressed by underlying resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), particularly between Default Mode Network (DMN) and Central Executive Network (CEN) structures.

METHODS

The analytic sample comprised primary caregiver-infant dyads [52 infants (42% female, mean age at scan=15.10 weeks)], with infant neuroimaging and emotional behavior assessments at 3 months. Infant WM and rsFC were assessed by diffusion-weighted imaging/tractography and resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during natural, non-sedated sleep. The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-R provided measures of infant PE and NE.

RESULTS

Following significant WM-emotional behavior relationships, multimodal analyses were performed using whole-brain voxelwise mediation. Results revealed that greater cingulum bundle volume was significantly associated with lower infant PE (ß = -0.263, p = 0.031); however, a pattern of lower rsFC between CEN and DMN structures suppressed this otherwise negative relationship. Greater uncinate fasciculus volume was significantly associated with lower infant NE (ß = -0.296, p = 0.022); however, lower orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-amygdala rsFC, suppressed this otherwise negative relationship, while greater OFC-CEN rsFC mediated this relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

Functional interactions among neural networks have an important influence on WM microstructural-emotional behavior relationships in infancy. These relationships can elucidate neural mechanisms contributing to future behavioral and emotional problems in childhood.

Examining the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Sensitivity in Predicting Functional Brain Network Connectivity in 5-Month-Old Infants

Infancy is a sensitive period of human brain development that is plastically shaped by environmental factors. Both proximal factors, such as sensitive parenting, and distal factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES), are known predictors of individual differences in structural and functional brain systems across the lifespan, yet it is unclear how these familial and contextual factors work together to shape functional brain development during infancy, particularly during the first months of life. In the current study, we examined pre-registered hypotheses regarding the interplay between these factors to assess how maternal sensitivity, within the broader context of socioeconomic variation, relates to the development of functional connectivity in long-range cortical brain networks. Specifically, we measured resting-state functional connectivity in three cortical brain networks (fronto-parietal network, default mode network, homologous-interhemispheric connectivity) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and examined the associations between maternal sensitivity, SES, and functional connectivity in a sample of 5-month-old infants and their mothers (N = 50 dyads). Results showed that all three networks were detectable during a passive viewing task, and that maternal sensitivity was positively associated with functional connectivity in the default mode network, such that infants with more sensitive mothers exhibited enhanced functional connectivity in this network. Contrary to hypotheses, we did not observe any associations of SES with functional connectivity in the brain networks assessed in this study. This suggests that at 5 months of age, maternal sensitivity is an important proximal environmental factor associated with individual differences in functional connectivity in a long-range cortical brain network implicated in a host of emotional and social-cognitive brain processes.

Brain morphometry and diminished physical growth in Bangladeshi children growing up in extreme poverty: A longitudinal study

Diminished physical growth is a common marker of malnutrition and it affects approximately 200 million children worldwide. Despite its importance and prevalence, it is not clear whether diminished growth relates to brain development and general cognitive ability. Further, diminished growth is more common in areas of extreme poverty, raising the possibility that it may mediate previously shown links between socioeconomic status (SES) and brain structure. To address these gaps, 79 children growing up in an extremely poor, urban area of Bangladesh underwent MRI at age six years. Structural brain images were submitted to Mindboggle software, a Docker-compliant and high-reproducibility tool for tissue segmentation and regional estimations of volume, surface area, cortical thickness, sulcal depth, and mean curvature. Diminished growth predicted brain morphometry and mediated the link between SES and brain morphometry most consistently for subcortical and white matter subcortical volumes. Meanwhile, brain volume in left pallidum and right ventral diencephalon mediated the relationship between diminished growth and full-scale IQ. These findings offer malnutrition as one possible pathway through which SES affects brain development and general cognitive ability in areas of extreme poverty.

Prenatal stress dysregulates resting-state functional connectivity and sensory motifs

Prenatal stress (PS) can impact fetal brain structure and function and contribute to higher vulnerability to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. To understand how PS alters evoked and spontaneous neocortical activity and intrinsic brain functional connectivity, mesoscale voltage imaging was performed in adult C57BL/6NJ mice that had been exposed to auditory stress on gestational days 12-16, the age at which neocortex is developing. PS mice had a four-fold higher basal corticosterone level and reduced amplitude of cortical sensory-evoked responses to visual, auditory, whisker, forelimb, and hindlimb stimuli. Relative to control animals, PS led to a general reduction of resting-state functional connectivity, as well as reduced inter-modular connectivity, enhanced intra-modular connectivity, and altered frequency of auditory and forelimb spontaneous sensory motifs. These resting-state changes resulted in a cortical connectivity pattern featuring disjoint but tight modules and a decline in network efficiency. The findings demonstrate that cortical connectivity is sensitive to PS and exposed offspring may be at risk for adult stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Reliability of an automated gaze-controlled paradigm for capturing neural responses during visual and face processing in toddlerhood

Electroencephalography (EEG) has substantial potential value for examining individual differences during early development. Current challenges in developmental EEG research include high dropout rates and low trial numbers, which may in part be due to passive stimulus presentation. Comparability is challenged by idiosyncratic processing pipelines. We present a novel toolbox (“Braintools”) that uses gaze‐contingent stimulus presentation and an automated processing pipeline suitable for measuring visual processing through low‐density EEG recordings in the field. We tested the feasibility of this toolbox in 61 2.5‐ to 4‐year olds, and computed test–retest reliability (1‐ to 2‐week interval) of event‐related potentials (ERP) associated with visual (P1) and face processing (N290, P400). Feasibility was good, with 52 toddlers providing some EEG data at the first session. Reliability values for ERP features were moderate when derived from 20 trials; this would allow inclusion of 79% of the 61 toddlers for the P1 and 82% for the N290 and P400. P1 amplitude/latency were more reliable across sessions than for the N290 and P400. Amplitudes were generally more reliable than latencies. Automated and standardized solutions to collection and analysis of event‐related EEG data would allow efficient application in large‐scale global health studies, opening significant potential for examining individual differences in development.

[Formula: see text] Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in early childhood: a systematic review of the literature

It is now established that socioeconomic variables are associated with cognitive, academic achievement, and psychiatric outcomes. Recent years have shown the advance in our understanding of how socioeconomic status (SES) relates to brain development in the first years of life (ages 0-5 years). However, it remains unknown which neural structures and functions are most sensitive to the environmental experiences associated with SES. Pubmed, PsycInfo, and Google Scholar databases from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2019, were systematically searched using terms "Neural" OR "Neuroimaging" OR "Brain" OR "Brain development," AND "Socioeconomic" OR "SES" OR "Income" OR "Disadvantage" OR "Education," AND "Early childhood" OR "Early development". Nineteen studies were included in the full review after applying all exclusion criteria. Studies revealed associations between socioeconomic and neural measures and indicated that, in the first years of life, certain neural functions and structures (e.g., those implicated in language and executive function) may be more sensitive to socioeconomic context than others. Findings broadly support the hypothesis that SES associations with neural structure and function operate on a gradient. Socioeconomic status is reflected in neural architecture and function of very young children, as early as shortly after birth, with its effects possibly growing throughout early childhood as a result of postnatal experiences. Although socioeconomic associations with neural measures were relatively consistent across studies, results from this review are not conclusive enough to supply a neural phenotype of low SES. Further work is necessary to understand causal mechanisms underlying SES-brain associations.

Neurodevelopmental effects of childhood malnutrition: A neuroimaging perspective

Approximately one in five children worldwide suffers from childhood malnutrition and its complications, including increased susceptibility to inflammation and infectious diseases. Due to improved early interventions, most of these children now survive early malnutrition, even in low-resource settings (LRS). However, many continue to exhibit neurodevelopmental deficits, including low IQ, poor school performance, and behavioral problems over their lifetimes. Most studies have relied on neuropsychological tests, school performance, and mental health and behavioral measures. Few studies, in contrast, have assessed brain structure and function, and to date, these have mainly relied on low-cost techniques, including electroencephalography (EEG) and evoked potentials (ERP). The use of more advanced methods of neuroimaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), has been limited by cost factors and lack of availability of these technologies in developing countries, where malnutrition is nearly ubiquitous. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge and evidence gaps regarding childhood malnutrition and the study of its impact on neurodevelopment. It may help to inform the development of new strategies to improve the identification, classification, and treatment of neurodevelopmental disabilities in underserved populations at the highest risk for childhood malnutrition.

Imaging the rapidly developing brain: Current challenges for MRI studies in the first five years of life

Rapid and widespread changes in brain anatomy and physiology in the first five years of life present substantial challenges for developmental structural, functional, and diffusion MRI studies. One persistent challenge is that methods best suited to earlier developmental stages are suboptimal for later stages, which engenders a trade-off between using different, but age-appropriate, methods for different developmental stages or identical methods across stages. Both options have potential benefits, but also biases, as pipelines for each developmental stage can be matched on methods or the age-appropriateness of methods, but not both. This review describes the data acquisition, processing, and analysis challenges that introduce these potential biases and attempts to elucidate decisions and make recommendations that would optimize developmental comparisons.

Prenatal stress exposure and multimodal assessment of amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity in infants

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Non-human animal research shows stress alters amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) connectivity.

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It is unclear how prenatal stress may alter human infant connectivity.

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Prenatal stress was associated with decreased amygdala–mPFC functional connectivity.

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Prenatal stress was associated with increased amygdala–mPFC structural connectivity.

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This work provides insight into how stress contributes to neurodevelopmental risk.

Stressful experiences are linked to neurodevelopment. There is growing interest in the role of stress in the connectivity between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a circuit that subserves automatic emotion regulation. However, the specific timing and mechanisms that underlie the association between stress and amygdala–mPFC connectivity are unclear. Many factors, including variations in fetal exposure to maternal stress, appear to affect early developing brain circuitry. However, few studies have examined the associations of stress and amygdala–mPFC connectivity in early life, when the brain is most plastic and sensitive to environmental influence. In this longitudinal pilot study, we characterized the association between prenatal stress and amygdala–mPFC connectivity in young infants (approximately age 5 weeks). A final sample of 33 women who provided data on preconception and prenatal stress during their pregnancy returned with their offspring for a magnetic resonance imaging scan session, which enabled us to characterize amygdala–mPFC structural and functional connectivity as a function of prenatal stress. Increased prenatal stress was associated with decreased functional connectivity and increased structural connectivity between the amygdala and mPFC. These results provide insight into the influence of prenatal maternal stress on the early development of this critical regulatory circuitry.

Adversity in childhood is linked to mental and physical health throughout life

The prevalence of “toxic stress” and huge downstream consequences in disease, suffering, and financial costs make prevention and early intervention crucial, say Charles A Nelson and colleagues

Using multiple short epochs optimises the stability of infant EEG connectivity parameters

Atypicalities in connectivity between brain regions have been implicated in a range of neurocognitive disorders. We require metrics to assess stable individual differences in connectivity in the developing brain, while facing the challenge of limited data quality and quantity. Here, we examine how varying core processing parameters can optimise the test–retest reliability of EEG connectivity measures in infants. EEG was recorded twice with a 1-week interval between sessions in 10-month-olds. EEG alpha connectivity was measured across different epoch lengths and numbers, with the phase lag index (PLI) and debiased weighted PLI (dbWPLI), for both whole-head connectivity and graph theory metrics. We calculated intra-class correlations between sessions for infants with sufficient data for both sessions (N’s = 19–41, depending on the segmentation method). Reliability for the whole brain dbWPLI was higher across many short epochs, whereas reliability for the whole brain PLI was higher across fewer long epochs. However, the PLI is confounded by the number of available segments. Reliability was higher for whole brain connectivity than graph theory metrics. Thus, segmenting available data into a high number of short epochs and calculating the dbWPLI is most appropriate for characterising connectivity in populations with limited availability of EEG data.

Dyslexia as an adaptation to cortico-limbic stress system reactivity

A new school of thought in evolutionary developmental biology, combined with research in the neurobiology of stress, suggest that early exposure to stressful circumstances may be a cause of dyslexia. A balance between epigenetic, stress-induced and cognitive-growth genetic programs modulates the brain's cellular, regional, and network homeostasis. This balance is essential for adaptability to the normative range of everyday stress. However, even mild chronic stress exposition may overactivate the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis, upsetting the homeostatic balance between these programs, and exposing the brain to harmful levels of stress hormones. A protective strategy to sustained disequilibrium precociously advances maturation at the cost of neuroplasticity, which blunts stress axis reactivity but also compromises learning potential in the prefrontal cortex and networks associated with dyslexia. Stress exceeding an individual's range of resilience: (1) reduces levels of TFEB and BDNF, gene regulatory factors prolonging maturation and neuroplasticity; (2) interferes with the insular cortex, amygdala and hippocampus in coordinating afferent visceral signals with cognitive performance; (3) over-recruits the brain's Default Mode network; and (4) amplifies release from the Locus coeruleus/norepinephrine system which impairs the entrainment of oscillations in the lower phonological frequencies of speech. Evidence supporting a stress-growth imbalance is preliminary, but holds promise for reconceptualizing the neurobiology of dyslexia and reducing its prevalence.

Relating anthropometric indicators to brain structure in 2-month-old Bangladeshi infants growing up in poverty: A pilot study

Anthropometric indicators, including stunting, underweight, and wasting, have previously been associated with poor neurocognitive outcomes. This link may exist because malnutrition and infection, which are known to affect height and weight, also impact brain structure according to animal models. However, a relationship between anthropometric indicators and brain structural measures has not been tested yet, perhaps because stunting, underweight, and wasting are uncommon in higher-resource settings. Further, with diminished anthropometric growth prevalent in low-resource settings, where biological and psychosocial hazards are most severe, one might expect additional links between measures of poverty, anthropometry, and brain structure. To begin to examine these relationships, we conducted an MRI study in 2-3-month-old infants growing up in the extremely impoverished urban setting of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The sample size was relatively small because the challenges of investigating infant brain structure in a low-resource setting needed to be realized and resolved before introducing a larger cohort. Initially, fifty-four infants underwent T1 sequences using 3T MRI, and resulting structural images were segmented into gray and white matter maps, which were carefully evaluated for accurate tissue labeling by a pediatric neuroradiologist. Gray and white matter volumes from 29 infants (79 ​± ​10 days-of-age; F/M ​= ​12/17), whose segmentations were of relatively high quality, were submitted to semi-partial correlation analyses with stunting, underweight, and wasting, which were measured using height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-height (WHZ) scores. Positive semi-partial correlations (after adjusting for chronological age and sex and correcting for multiple comparisons) were observed between white matter volume and HAZ and WAZ; however, WHZ was not correlated with any measure of brain volume. No associations were observed between income-to-needs or maternal education and brain volumetric measures, suggesting that measures of poverty were not associated with total brain tissue volume in this sample. Overall, these results provide the first link between diminished anthropometric growth and white matter volume in infancy. Challenges of conducting a developmental neuroimaging study in a low-resource country are also described.

Implementing neuroimaging and eye tracking methods to assess neurocognitive development of young infants in low- and middle-income countries

Infants and children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are frequently exposed to a range of environmental risk factors which may negatively affect their neurocognitive development. The mechanisms by which factors such as undernutrition and poverty impact development and cognitive outcomes in early childhood are poorly understood. This lack of knowledge is due in part to a paucity of objective assessment tools which can be implemented across different cultural settings and in very young infants. Over the last decade, technological advances, particularly in neuroimaging, have opened new avenues for research into the developing human brain, allowing us to investigate novel biological associations. This paper presents functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking (ET) as objective, cross-cultural methods for studying infant neurocognitive development in LMICs, and specifically their implementation in rural Gambia, West Africa. These measures are currently included, as part of a broader battery of assessments, in the Brain Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) project, which is developing brain function for age curves in Gambian and UK infants from birth to 24 months of age. The BRIGHT project combines fNIRS, EEG and ET with behavioural, growth, health and sociodemographic measures. The implementation of these measures in rural Gambia are discussed, including methodological and technical challenges that needed to be addressed to ensure successful data acquisition. The aim is to provide guidance to other groups seeking to implement similar methods in their research in other LMICs to better understand associations between environmental risk and early neurocognitive development.

The relationship between biological and psychosocial risk factors and resting-state functional connectivity in 2-month-old Bangladeshi infants: A feasibility and pilot study

Childhood poverty has been associated with structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, poverty does not alter brain development directly, but acts through associated biological or psychosocial risk factors (e.g. malnutrition, family conflict). Yet few studies have investigated risk factors in the context of infant neurodevelopment, and none have done so in low‐resource settings such as Bangladesh, where children are exposed to multiple, severe biological and psychosocial hazards. In this feasibility and pilot study, usable resting‐state fMRI data were acquired in infants from extremely poor (n = 16) and (relatively) more affluent (n = 16) families in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Whole‐brain intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) was estimated using bilateral seeds in the amygdala, where iFC has shown susceptibility to early life stress, and in sensory areas, which have exhibited less susceptibility to early life hazards. Biological and psychosocial risk factors were examined for associations with iFC. Three resting‐state networks were identified in within‐group brain maps: medial temporal/striatal, visual, and auditory networks. Infants from extremely poor families compared with those from more affluent families exhibited greater (i.e. less negative) iFC in precuneus for amygdala seeds; however, no group differences in iFC were observed for sensory area seeds. Height‐for‐age, a proxy for malnutrition/infection, was not associated with amygdala/precuneus iFC, whereas prenatal family conflict was positively correlated. Findings suggest that it is feasible to conduct infant fMRI studies in low‐resource settings. Challenges and practical steps for successful implementations are discussed.