Heritable functional architecture in human visual cortex

Alvarez, Iván; Finlayson, Nonie; Ei, Shwe; Haas, Benjamin de; Greenwood, John A.; Schwarzkopf, D. Samuel

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118286

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…These findings regarding the heritability of visual cortex confirm reports from another recently published paper (Alvarez et al, 2021), which evaluated an independent sample of approximately half as many twins as used here. Alvarez et al examined the V1-V3 organization of 36 twin pairs and found both greater visual area overlap in MZ than DZ twins and higher correlations of cortical properties (as in Figs.…”

Section: Mz Twins' Retinotopic Maps Are More Similar Than Those Of Dz...supporting

confidence: 90%

“…Significantly higher correlations for MZ twins than for DZ twins indicates that each of the measures is to some degree heritable, whether that correlation was calculated over the cortical surface, thus depending on cortical alignment, or over the visual field, thus depending only on functional data. While it is possible that correlations over the cortical surface are influenced by cortical alignment, a recent study that performed similar calculations found that the amount of deformation required to align the brains of DZ twins was approximately the same as for MZ twins (Alvarez et al, 2021), indicating that this effect is likely small.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Variability of the Surface Area of the V1, V2, and V3 Maps in a Large Sample of Human Observers

Benson

Yoon

Forenzo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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How variable is the functionally-defined structure of early visual areas in human cortex and how much variability is shared between twins? Here we quantify individual differences in the best understood functionally-defined regions of cortex: V1, V2, V3. The Human Connectome Project includes retinotopic measurements from 181 subjects, most of whom are twins. We trained four "anatomists" to manually define V1-V3 using retinotopic features. These definitions were more accurate than automated anatomical templates and showed that surface areas for these maps varied more than three-fold across individuals. The cortical magnification function also differed substantially among individuals: the relative amount of cortex devoted to central vision varied by more than a factor of 2. Whereas our twin sample sizes were too small to make precise heritability estimates (50 monozygotic pairs, 34 dizygotic), they nonetheless reveal high correlations, consistent with strong effects of the combination of shared genes and environment on visual area size. In V1, intraclass correlations of surface area between twin pairs were 84% and 68% for monozygotic and dizygotic pairs, respectively. The correlations were also high for V2 (81%, 73%) and V3 (75%, 43%). A trend for higher monozygotic than dizygotic size correlations, as well as greater similarity in map properties amongst monozygotic twins, suggest that visual area size and topography are partly genetically determined. Collectively, these results comprise the most accurate account of individual variability in visual area structure to date, and provide a robust population benchmark against which new individuals and developmental and clinical populations can be compared.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Mz Twins' Retinotopic Maps Are More Similar Than Those Of Dz...supporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Variability of the Surface Area of the V1, V2, and V3 Maps in a Large Sample of Human Observers

Benson

Yoon

Forenzo

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous work examining the visual cortex in the context of twins and heritability has found some evidence of genetic control. The variance of resting-state fluctuations within the visual cortex has a strong genetic component ( Yang et al, 2016 ), and the surface areas of V1–V3 are more correlated for monozygotic than dizygotic twins ( Alvarez et al, 2021 ; Benson et al, 2021b ). Interestingly, our analysis of the asymmetries of twin pairs in the dataset demonstrated differences between HVA and VMA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical magnification in human visual cortex parallels task performance around the visual field

Benson

Kupers

Barbot

et al. 2021

eLife

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Human vision has striking radial asymmetries, with performance on many tasks varying sharply with stimulus polar angle. Performance is generally better on the horizontal than vertical meridian, and on the lower than upper vertical meridian, and these asymmetries decrease gradually with deviation from the vertical meridian. Here we report cortical magnification at a fine angular resolution around the visual field. This precision enables comparisons between cortical magnification and behavior, between cortical magnification and retinal cell densities, and between cortical magnification in twin pairs. We show that cortical magnification in human primary visual cortex, measured in 163 subjects, varies substantially around the visual field, with a pattern similar to behavior. These radial asymmetries in cortex are larger than those found in the retina, and they are correlated between monozygotic twin pairs. These findings indicate a tight link between cortical topography and behavior, and suggest that visual field asymmetries are partly heritable.

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“…Despite the importance of interindividual variability in determining brain development and (dys)function, the origins of neural variability remain unclear. Heritability has been shown to account for a high percentage of variance ( Polk et al, 2007 ; Park et al, 2012b ; Yang et al, 2016 ; Ge et al, 2017 ; Reineberg et al, 2020 ; Alvarez et al, 2021 ) but does not explain the full range of individual differences. One large source of variability, the effects of environmental factors such as sensory experience, remains particularly unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Visual Experience in Individual Differences of Brain Connectivity

et al. 2022

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Visual cortex organization is highly consistent across individuals. But to what degree does this consistency depend on life experience, in particular sensory experience? In this study, we asked whether visual cortex reorganization in congenital blindness results in connectivity patterns that are particularly variable across individuals, focusing on resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) patterns from the primary visual cortex. We show that the absence of shared visual experience results in more variable RSFC patterns across blind individuals than sighted controls. Increased variability is specifically found in areas that show a group difference between the blind and sighted in their RSFC. These findings reveal a relationship between brain plasticity and individual variability; reorganization manifests variably across individuals. We further investigated the different patterns of reorganization in the blind, showing that the connectivity to frontal regions, proposed to have a role in the reorganization of the visual cortex of the blind toward higher cognitive roles, is highly variable. Further, we link some of the variability in visual-to-frontal connectivity to another environmental factor—duration of formal education. Together, these findings show a role of postnatal sensory and socioeconomic experience in imposing consistency on brain organization. By revealing the idiosyncratic nature of neural reorganization, these findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in fitting sensory aids and restoration approaches for vision loss. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The typical visual system is highly consistent across individuals. What are the origins of this consistency? Comparing the consistency of visual cortex connectivity between people born blind and sighted people, we showed that blindness results in higher variability, suggesting a key impact of postnatal individual experience on brain organization. Further, connectivity patterns that changed following blindness were particularly variable, resulting in diverse patterns of brain reorganization. Individual differences in reorganization were also directly affected by nonvisual experiences in the blind (years of formal education). Together, these findings show a role of sensory and socioeconomic experiences in creating individual differences in brain organization and endorse the use of individual profiles for rehabilitation and restoration of vision loss.

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Heritable functional architecture in human visual cortex

Cited by 14 publications

References 65 publications

Variability of the Surface Area of the V1, V2, and V3 Maps in a Large Sample of Human Observers

Variability of the Surface Area of the V1, V2, and V3 Maps in a Large Sample of Human Observers

Cortical magnification in human visual cortex parallels task performance around the visual field

The Role of Visual Experience in Individual Differences of Brain Connectivity

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