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The individuality of shape asymmetries of the human cerebral cortex
Chen, Yu-Chi Arnatkevičiūtė, Aurina McTavish, Eugene Pang, James C. Chopra, Sidhant Suo, Chao Fornito, Alex Aquino, Kevin M.
Chen, Yu-Chi
Arnatkevičiūtė, Aurina
McTavish, Eugene
Pang, James C.
Chopra, Sidhant
Suo, Chao
Fornito, Alex
Aquino, Kevin M.
Abstract
Asymmetries of the cerebral cortex are found across diverse phyla and are particularly pronounced in humans, with important implications for brain function and disease. However, many prior studies have confounded asymmetries due to size with those due to shape. Here, we introduce a novel approach to characterize asymmetries of the whole cortical shape, independent of size, across different spatial frequencies using magnetic resonance imaging data in three independent datasets. We find that cortical shape asymmetry is highly individualized and robust, akin to a cortical fingerprint, and identifies individuals more accurately than size-based descriptors, such as cortical thickness and surface area, or measures of inter-regional functional coupling of brain activity. Individual identifiability is optimal at coarse spatial scales (~37 mm wavelength), and shape asymmetries show scale-specific associations with sex and cognition, but not handedness. While unihemispheric cortical shape shows significant heritability at coarse scales (~65 mm wavelength), shape asymmetries are determined primarily by subject-specific environmental effects. Thus, coarse-scale shape asymmetries are highly personalized, sexually dimorphic, linked to individual differences in cognition, and are primarily driven by stochastic environmental influences.
Keywords
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
eLife
Book
Volume
11
Issue
Page Range
1-28
Article Number
Article e75056
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open