The development of the brain was revealed by brain entropy (BEN) during movie watching from the age of three to twelve years

Mapping the developmental landscape of brain function is a key objective in modern neuroscience, greatly advanced by the public release of neuroimaging datasets. Here, we utilized movie-watching fMRI to study brain entropy (BEN) in 3-12-year-olds from OpenNeuro. The results of the analysis revealed that decreasing BEN within the action-mode network (AMN) serves as a key developmental marker in children. The AMN underpins goal-directed cognition, and its entropy reduction may signify a crucial shift from early, externally driven sensorimotor processing toward the emergence of more internalized, self-referential thought processes associated with the default-mode network. These findings highlight BEN as a powerful and sensitive tool for deciphering the principles of functional brain development.