LNCD

8 Sept

#flux2026 day one is underway !! Check out Ashley and Abby today!

8 Sept

Congrats to our very own Shane for winning the inaugural DCN best empirical paper award ! #flux2026

8 Sept

It’s that time of year again! Flux 2026!! Check out the work being done by the LNCD #flux2026 @fluxsociety.bsky.social

17 June

#ohbm2026 is underway! check out the amazing work by our lab !! @valeriejsydnor.bsky.social @shanemckeon.bsky.social #ohbm

@ohbmofficial.bsky.social

17 June

biorxiv.orgCross-species evidence for the refinement of intrinsic neural timescales supporting executive system maturation through adolescenceBrain functional, structural, and neurochemical maturation has been found to support the specialization of executive systems through adolescence that will lead to adult level processing. Importantly, ...

NEW PREPRINT ALERT !! Check out the latest work from postdoc @shanemckeon.bsky.social entitled "Cross-species evidence for the refinement of intrinsic neural timescales supporting executive system maturation through adolescence" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🎯 Function matters: shorter neural timescales predicted better working memory accuracy in adolescence and more stable responding in adulthood. Together, these results position intrinsic neural timescales as a conserved, biologically grounded marker of brain maturation across species.

🧠 Adolescence is a period of temporal reorganization in the brain. Across longitudinal EEG, human sEEG, and macaque LFPs, we show that intrinsic neural timescales shorten through adolescence, especially in frontal & parietal cortex—supporting executive system maturation.

⚡ What drives faster neural timescales? Shorter timescales were linked to increased excitation–inhibition balance, reduced aggregate spiking, and deep-layer intracortical myelination, tying population-level dynamics to circuit physiology and structure.

LNCD reposted

New preprint !! Check out the latest work from postdoc @shanemckeon.bsky.social on intrinsic neural timescales across adolescence using EEG, sEEG, an LFPs from non human primates!

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

Cross-species evidence for the refinement of intrinsic neural timescales supporting executive system maturation through adolescence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694027v1

@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

New preprint !! Check out the latest work from postdoc @shanemckeon.bsky.social on intrinsic neural timescales across adolescence using EEG, sEEG, an LFPs from non human primates!

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

Cross-species evidence for the refinement of intrinsic neural timescales supporting executive system maturation through adolescence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694027v1

LNCD reposted

bioRxiv Neuroscience

13 Dec 2025

Cross-species evidence for the refinement of intrinsic neural timescales supporting executive system maturation through adolescence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694027v1

www-sciencedirect-com.pitt.idm.oclc.orgShibboleth Authentication Request

15 Sept 2025

NEW PAPER ALERT! Check out the recent work of @amarojha.bsky.social "Human amygdala nuclei show distinct developmental trajectories from adolescence to adulthood in functional integration with prefrontal circuitry" now out in Cell Reports! www-sciencedirect-com.pitt.idm.oclc.org/science/arti...

15 Sept 2025

Highlights: - Ultra-high-field 7 T fMRI was used to segment amygdala nuclei - Fronto-amygdala functional connections develop along distinct trajectories - Age-related connections relate to affective and cognitive control - Amygdala nuclei exhibit developmental and functional specialization

LNCD reposted

Find us now on insta ! @lncd_pitt

6 Sept 2025

Day 3 of #flux2025 !

5 Sept 2025

The posters are underway! Go check them out #flux2025

5 Sept 2025

Flux day 2! Starting it off with a flash talk by @shanemckeon.bsky.social and then 4 posters! #Flux2025

Find us now on insta ! @lncd_pitt

Go Victoria Go! First day of flux is wrapping up with an awesome poster session! #Flux2025

Happy Flux day 1! Check out Victoria Dionisos’ poster (number T12) today on Developmental Interactions Between Local and Long-Range Connectivity, Gray Matter Microstructure, and Inhibitory Control From Adolescence to Young Adulthood #Flux2025

@valeriejsydnor.bsky.social

29 Aug 2025

Come check out the LNCD lab at #flux2025 !! Cant wait to see you all in Dublin !

LNCD reposted

Valerie Jill Sydnor

8 July 2025

How does the human brain coordinate hierarchical cortical development? Our work in Nature Neuroscience identifies a role for thalamocortical structural connectivity in the expression of hierarchical periods of cortical plasticity & environmental receptivity in youth 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

12 June 2025

Poster session 2 is underway at Pitt psychiatry day! Go check out @shanemckeon.bsky.social @amarojha.bsky.social Dan Ashley Destiny and Piya!

12 June 2025

12 June 2025

Happy Psychiatry Day! Check out our labs work at soldiers and sailors at Pitt ! First up this morning we have Abby ! A first year BioE PhD student @abbybeatty.bsky.social

@nicolenelson.bsky.social would love to be added to your starter pack!

sciencedirect.comDevelopmental decorrelation of local cortical activity through adolescence supports high-dimensional encoding and working memoryAdolescence is a key period for the maturation of cognitive control during which cortical circuitry is refined through processes such as synaptic prun…

📄NEW PAPER ALERT 📄 Shout out to Dr. Calabro and his newest pub "Developmental decorrelation of local cortical activity through adolescence supports high-dimensional encoding and working memory" now available in DCN www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@finncalabro.bsky.social

After searching through bluesky, I realized there wasnt a starter pack for Adolescent Neurocognitive Development (at least I couldnt find one), so decided to start one! Please help me in adding members of the awesome community go.bsky.app/R8mzr8W

@nataliebrito.bsky.social Hi Dr. Brito! This is the bluesky account for the Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development under Dr. Breatiz Luna. We would love to be added to the developmental psych starter pack!

Understanding these developmental shifts is key for studying mental health disorders that emerge in adolescence (e.g., schizophrenia, mood disorders). Future work should explore: 🔹 Synaptic pruning mechanisms 🔹 Neural signal dimensionality 🔹 Longitudinal effects on cognition

Our findings highlight adolescence as a critical period for functional specialization in the brain. As local connectivity decreases, circuits become more independent, higher-dimensional, & optimized for cognition. #Neuroimaging

We found ReHo decreases in networks involved in cognitive control & motor regulation, like: 🔹 Cingulo-opercular network (CON) → stabilizing goal-directed actions 🔹 Somatomotor networks → refining movement control 🔹 Frontoparietal networks → supporting executive function

These changes may: ✅ Increase information complexity in neural coding ✅ Support better cognitive flexibility & memory ✅ Reduce variability in motor & executive tasks Adolescence is when the brain optimizes for efficiency over redundancy!

Our longitudinal study (N=134, ages 10–31) found that through adolescence: 🔹 Local functional connectivity decreases 🔹 Brain circuits become more specialized 🔹 Coding capacity & efficiency increase This supports the shift toward adult-like cognition.

Cortical circuits showed increasing segregation, meaning nearby brain areas became more independent. This aligns with: 🔹 Synaptic pruning & refining neural connections 🔹 Increased signal fidelity & computational capacity 🔹 More efficient cognitive processing

@valeriejsydnor.bsky.social

Using 7T fMRI, we computed surface-based regional homogeneity as an index of local functional connectivity across the cortex (ReHo). Here we found widespread decreases, signaling more specialized, high-dimensional brain circuits that support adult-like cognition. 🧠🔬

LNCD reposted

Valerie Jill Sydnor

7 Feb 2025

Cortical maturation unfolds hierarchically, endowing the PFC with extended plasticity. But do timeframes of plasticity vary across PFC layers? With 7T quantitative myelin imaging, EEG, and cognitive data, we uncover heterochronous laminar maturation in the PFC 1/n. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...