Dissecting the Urge to Create

A neuropsychiatrist reviews "The Midnight Disease: The drive to write, writer's block and the creative brain

Morphology of the ventral frontal cortex: Relationship to femininity and social cognition

Females have been shown in a number of studies to be more adept in social perception compared with males. In addition, studies have reported that brain regions important in interpretation of nonverbal social cues, such as the ventral frontal cortex (VFC), are morphologically different between genders. To investigate the relationship between the structure of the VFC and social cognition, gray matter volume and surface area of the VFC were measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 30 men and 30 women matched for age and IQ. The VFC was subdivided into the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the straight gyrus (SG). The SG, but not the OFC, was proportionately larger in women. A subset of subjects was administered the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT), a test of social perceptiveness, and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), a scale of femininity and masculinity. Identification with more feminine traits on the PAQ correlated with greater SG gray matter volume and surface area. In addition, higher degrees of femininity correlated with better performance on the IPT. Taken together, these data suggest a complex relationship between femininity, social cognition, and the structure of the SG

Subcortical volumes across the lifespan: Data from 18,605 healthy individuals aged 3–90 years

Age has a major effect on brain volume. However, the normative studies available are constrained by small sample sizes, restricted age coverage and significant methodological variability. These limitations introduce inconsistencies and may obscure or distort the lifespan trajectories of brain morphometry. In response, we capitalized on the resources of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta‐Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium to examine age‐related trajectories inferred from cross‐sectional measures of the ventricles, the basal ganglia (caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens), the thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala using magnetic resonance imaging data obtained from 18,605 individuals aged 3–90 years. All subcortical structure volumes were at their maximum value early in life. The volume of the basal ganglia showed a monotonic negative association with age thereafter; there was no significant association between age and the volumes of the thalamus, amygdala and the hippocampus (with some degree of decline in thalamus) until the sixth decade of life after which they also showed a steep negative association with age. The lateral ventricles showed continuous enlargement throughout the lifespan. Age was positively associated with inter‐individual variability in the hippocampus and amygdala and the lateral ventricles. These results were robust to potential confounders and could be used to examine the functional significance of deviations from typical age‐related morphometric patterns

Cortical thickness across the lifespan: Data from 17,075 healthy individuals aged 3-90 years

Delineating the association of age and cortical thickness in healthy individuals is critical given the association of cortical thickness with cognition and behavior. Previous research has shown that robust estimates of the association between age and brain morphometry require large‐scale studies. In response, we used cross‐sectional data from 17,075 individuals aged 3–90 years from the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta‐Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium to infer age‐related changes in cortical thickness. We used fractional polynomial (FP) regression to quantify the association between age and cortical thickness, and we computed normalized growth centiles using the parametric Lambda, Mu, and Sigma method. Interindividual variability was estimated using meta‐analysis and one‐way analysis of variance. For most regions, their highest cortical thickness value was observed in childhood. Age and cortical thickness showed a negative association; the slope was steeper up to the third decade of life and more gradual thereafter; notable exceptions to this general pattern were entorhinal, temporopolar, and anterior cingulate cortices. Interindividual variability was largest in temporal and frontal regions across the lifespan. Age and its FP combinations explained up to 59% variance in cortical thickness. These results may form the basis of further investigation on normative deviation in cortical thickness and its significance for behavioral and cognitive outcomes