RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The midpoint of cortical thinning between late childhood and early adulthood differs across individuals and regions: Evidence from longitudinal modelling in a 12-wave sample
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.02.10.479868
DO 10.1101/2022.02.10.479868
A1 D. Fuhrmann
A1 K. S. Madsen
A1 L. B. Johansen
A1 W. F. C. Baaré
A1 R. A. Kievit
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/10/2022.02.10.479868.abstract
AB Charting human brain maturation between childhood and adulthood is a fundamental prerequisite for understanding the rapid psychological changes during adolescence. Two barriers have precluded the quantification of maturational trajectories: demands on data and demands on estimation. Using high-temporal resolution neuroimaging data of up to 12-waves in the HUBU cohort (N = 90, aged 7-21 years) we investigate changes in apparent cortical thickness across childhood and adolescence. Fitting a four-parameter logistic nonlinear random effects mixed model, we quantified the characteristic, s-shaped, trajectory of cortical thinning in adolescence. This approach yields biologically meaningful parameters, including the midpoint of cortical thinning (MCT), which corresponds to the age at which the cortex shows most rapid thinning - in our sample occurring, on average, at 15 years of age. These results show that, given suitable data and models, cortical maturation can be quantified with precision for each individual and brain region.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.