Early motor skill acquisition is an important developmental stepping stone for more complex cognitive tasks. While cognitive performance and overall health has shown to be negatively impacted by malnutrition, few studies have been conducted to investigate its influence on neurodevelopment. Here, we investigate the relationship of motor ability and brain functional connectivity (fc) in currently underweight and average weight young children (< 2 years) living in an Indian region with one of the worst human development indicators. With increase in motor complexity, fewer fc were available in the undernourished cohort only, possibly indicating an under-recruitment of brain networks.
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