A critical period plasticity framework for the sensorimotor–association axis of cortical neurodevelopment

To understand human brain development it is necessary to describe not only the spatiotemporal patterns of neurodevelopment but also the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie them. Human neuroimaging studies have provided evidence for a hierarchical sensorimotor-to-association (S–A) axis of cortical neurodevelopment. Understanding the biological mechanisms that underlie this program of development using traditional neuroimaging approaches has been challenging. Animal models have been used to identify periods of enhanced experience-dependent plasticity – 'critical periods' – that progress along cortical hierarchies and are governed by a conserved set of neurobiological mechanisms that promote and then restrict plasticity. In this review we hypothesize that the S–A axis of cortical development in humans is partly driven by the cascading maturation of critical period plasticity mechanisms. We then describe how recent advances in in vivo neuroimaging approaches provide a promising path toward testing this hypothesis by linking signals derived from non-invasive imaging to critical period mechanisms.