A term that, in neuroscience, describes the directions along which the way different parts of the brain work and communicate in the process of ontogenetic development change. Gradients can be directed:
1) From the right hemisphere of the brain to the left – for example, the maturation of cerebral functional systems.
2) From the posterior parts of the brain to the anterior parts of the brain – for example, the formation of pathways that provide descending influences from the anterior parts of the left hemisphere to the subcortical structures.
The formation of the gradient is associated with the step-by-step consolidation of the hierarchy of differentiated subcortical-cortical, intra- and interhemispheric interactions.