Shape variability of the central sulcus in the developing brain: A longitudinal descriptive and predictive study in preterm infants

•Shape features can be isolated to describe quantitatively the development of the central sulcus.•Most shape characteristics of the central sulcus are already encoded at 30 weeks of post-menstrual age (w PMA) in preterm newborns.•The central sulcus shows subtle hemispheric asymmetries as soon as 30w PMA.•The early shape of the central sulcus can help predicting handedness and fine motor outcome at 5 years of age.