Precision probabilistic mapping reveals personalized functional topography in the early postnatal human brain

Abstract

Human adults exhibit remarkable individual differences in the brain's functional topography, yet how such individualized topography emerges and shapes long-term cognition remains unknown. Using multimodal neuroimaging data of 419 infants (367 term-born; 52 preterm-born) from the Developing Human Connectome Project, we characterize personalized functional topographies in the neonate brain and evaluate their ability to predict 18-month neurocognitive outcomes. We find that typical functional topographies are present at birth, with interindividual variability organized along a sensorimotor-to-association hierarchy. These individualized maps encode early brain maturity and predict cognitive, language, and motor outcomes in early childhood, with the most predictive features localized to sensorimotor network boundaries. This functional refinement is structurally anchored by concurrent maturation in cortical myelination and sulcal depth. Preterm birth is associated with topographic alterations featuring atypical association network maturation. Our findings establish a foundational framework for precision modelling of early brain development and its influences on long-term cognitive trajectories.