Relationships between Human Brain Structural Connectomes and Traits

Abstract

Advanced brain imaging techniques make it possible to measure individuals structural connectomes in large cohort studies non-invasively. However, due to limitations in image resolution and pre-processing, questions remain about whether reconstructed connectomes are measured accurately enough to detect relationships with human traits and behaviors. Using a state-of-the-art structural connectome processing pipeline and a novel dimensionality reduction technique applied to data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), we show strong relationships between connectome structure and various human traits. Our dimensionality reduction approach uses a tensor characterization of the connectomes and relies on a generalization of principal components analysis. We analyze over 1100 scans for 1076 subjects from the HCP and the Sherbrooke test-retest data set as well as 175 human traits that measure domains including cognition, substance use, motor, sensory and emotion. We find that brain connectomes are associated with many traits. Specifically, fluid intelligence, language comprehension, and motor skills are associated with increased cortical-cortical brain connectivity, while the use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are associated with decreased cortical-cortical connectivity.