RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Joint analysis of area and thickness of the cerebral cortex replaces cortical volume measurements JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 074666 DO 10.1101/074666 A1 Anderson M. Winkler A1 Douglas N. Greve A1 Knut J. Bjuland A1 Thomas E. Nichols A1 Mert R. Sabuncu A1 Asta K. HÃ¥berg A1 Jon Skranes A1 Lars M. Rimol YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/09/13/074666.abstract AB A detailed investigation of the surface-based methods for assessment of cortical volume and area from magnetic resonance images shows that volume mostly mirrors variability in surface area, while having little sensitivity to cortical thickness, and this remains the case even when volume is assessed using an improved analytic method. Using data from young adults born with very low birth weight and coetaneous controls, it is demonstrated that the permutation-based non-parametric combination (NPC) of thickness and area is more sensitive than volume for studying joint effects on these two quantities, giving equal weight to variation in both. NPC can replace current analyses of cortical volume altogether, allowing a better characterisation of processes that can concomitantly influence brain anatomy, even when their effects are in opposite directions. The method is remarkably general and can be extended to other indices of brain structure and function.