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Inhibitory Control Network Connectivity and Social Adjustment After Pediatric Brain Tumour Treatment

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 5:00 – 7:00 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Katie Wade Alonso^1,2,3 (), Laura Ferlanti^1,2, Fatma Al-Rubeye^1,2, Michael Zara^1,2, Julie Tseng^1,2, Eden Cohen^1,2, Suzanne Laughlin², Donald J Mabbott^1,2,3; ¹Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, ²The Hospital for Sick Children, ³The Department of Psychology, University of Toronto

Risk factors for poor social adjustment after brain tumour treatment are not well established. Prior work implicates developmental, biological, and treatment factors and inhibitory control performance. However, it’s unknown whether functional and structural brain connectivity within inhibitory control networks can help explain social outcomes after brain tumour treatment. Using magnetoencephalography, the Go/No-Go task, diffusion-weighted imaging, and a quality of life questionnaire, we quantified differences in inhibitory control, its supporting brain connectivity, and social adjustment between children treated for brain tumours (n=15) and typically developing controls (TDC; n=11). Relative to TDC, children treated for brain tumours showed significantly (p<.05) (1) reduced low gamma neural communication between networks important for inhibitory control, indexed by lower weighted phase lag indices (wPLI); (2) disrupted white matter microstructure between these same networks, indexed by lower intra-axonal and higher extra-axonal diffusivity metrics; and (3) lower parent-reported social adjustment based on the Pediatric Quality of Life Social Scale. In robust regressions across participants, poorer social adjustment was associated with female sex, more treatments and complications, lower low gamma functional communication underlying inhibitory control within key networks, and more diffuse white matter damage. Groups did not significantly differ in Go/No-Go performance, and performance was not related to social outcomes. These findings suggest that both specific perturbations to functional communication within inhibitory control networks and broad damage to white matter contribute to social difficulties after brain tumour treatment. Leveraging these measures of network connectivity may improve risk identification which can direct prioritization of supports.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Other