We also identified age-by-sex interactions in several brain regions associated with the visuospatial function (e.g., CUN.L and SPG.L) [81], [83] and emotion processing (e.g., bilateral REC) [84], [85], [86]. These sex-dimorphic patterns of developmental trajectories in the brain regions may be the result of underlying sex differences in the functional maturation of these regions. Furthermore, sex differences in brain development have been well documented to potentially be related to the prevalence, course, and treatment of several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia [87], [88]. Recent studies on functional and structural brain networks have indicated significant changes in the regional node properties in autism [89], ADHD [41], and schizophrenia [39], [40], [90], [91]. For example, two brain regions (e.g., IFGtriang.L and REC.L) showing significant sex-related differences in this study were found to be altered in the ADHD group [41]. Therefore, investigating the sex-specific brain networks in health and neurodevelopmental disorders will be interesting to study in the future.
