Reassessing associations between white matter and behaviour with multimodal microstructural imaging.

Lazari A
Salvan P
Cottaar M
Papp D
Jens van der Werf O
Johnstone A
Sanders ZB
Sampaio-Baptista C
Eichert N
Miyamoto K
Winkler AM
Callaghan MF
Nichols TE
Rushworth MFS
Verhagen L
Johansen-Berg H

Scientific Abstract

Several studies have established specific relationships between White Matter (WM) and behaviour. However, these studies have typically focussed on fractional anisotropy (FA), a neuroimaging metric that is sensitive to multiple tissue properties, making it difficult to identify what biological aspects of WM may drive such relationships. Here, we carry out a pre-registered assessment of WM-behaviour relationships in 50 healthy individuals across multiple behavioural and anatomical domains, and complementing FA with myelin-sensitive quantitative MR modalities (MT, R1, R2∗). Surprisingly, we only find support for predicted relationships between FA and behaviour in one of three pre-registered tests. For one behavioural domain, where we failed to detect an FA-behaviour correlation, we instead find evidence for a correlation between behaviour and R1. This hints that multimodal approaches are able to identify a wider range of WM-behaviour relationships than focusing on FA alone. To test whether a common biological substrate such as myelin underlies WM-behaviour relationships, we then ran joint multimodal analyses, combining across all MRI parameters considered. No significant multimodal signatures were found and power analyses suggested that sample sizes of 40-200 may be required to detect such joint multimodal effects, depending on the task being considered. These results demonstrate that FA-behaviour relationships from the literature can be replicated, but may not be easily generalisable across domains. Instead, multimodal microstructural imaging may be best placed to detect a wider range of WM-behaviour relationships, as different MRI modalities provide distinct biological sensitivities. Our findings highlight a broad heterogeneity in WM's relationship with behaviour, suggesting that variable biological effects may be shaping their interaction.

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Gann MA, Paparella IA, Zich C, Grigoras IF, Huertas-Penen S, Rieger SW, Thielscher A, Sharott A, Stagg CJ, Schwab BC

Dual-site beta transcranial alternating current stimulation during a bimanual coordination task modulates functional connectivity between motor areas

Reassessing associations between white matter and behaviour with multimodal microstructural imaging.

Lazari A
Salvan P
Cottaar M
Papp D
Jens van der Werf O
Johnstone A
Sanders ZB
Sampaio-Baptista C
Eichert N
Miyamoto K
Winkler AM
Callaghan MF
Nichols TE
Rushworth MFS
Verhagen L
Johansen-Berg H

Scientific Abstract

Several studies have established specific relationships between White Matter (WM) and behaviour. However, these studies have typically focussed on fractional anisotropy (FA), a neuroimaging metric that is sensitive to multiple tissue properties, making it difficult to identify what biological aspects of WM may drive such relationships. Here, we carry out a pre-registered assessment of WM-behaviour relationships in 50 healthy individuals across multiple behavioural and anatomical domains, and complementing FA with myelin-sensitive quantitative MR modalities (MT, R1, R2∗). Surprisingly, we only find support for predicted relationships between FA and behaviour in one of three pre-registered tests. For one behavioural domain, where we failed to detect an FA-behaviour correlation, we instead find evidence for a correlation between behaviour and R1. This hints that multimodal approaches are able to identify a wider range of WM-behaviour relationships than focusing on FA alone. To test whether a common biological substrate such as myelin underlies WM-behaviour relationships, we then ran joint multimodal analyses, combining across all MRI parameters considered. No significant multimodal signatures were found and power analyses suggested that sample sizes of 40-200 may be required to detect such joint multimodal effects, depending on the task being considered. These results demonstrate that FA-behaviour relationships from the literature can be replicated, but may not be easily generalisable across domains. Instead, multimodal microstructural imaging may be best placed to detect a wider range of WM-behaviour relationships, as different MRI modalities provide distinct biological sensitivities. Our findings highlight a broad heterogeneity in WM's relationship with behaviour, suggesting that variable biological effects may be shaping their interaction.

Citation

2021. Cortex, 145:187-200.

DOI

10.1016/j.cortex.2021.08.017

Free Full Text at Europe PMC

PMC8940642

Similar content

Preprint
Gann MA, Paparella IA, Zich C, Grigoras IF, Huertas-Penen S, Rieger SW, Thielscher A, Sharott A, Stagg CJ, Schwab BC

Dual-site beta transcranial alternating current stimulation during a bimanual coordination task modulates functional connectivity between motor areas