Negative associations between corpus callosum midsagittal area and IQ in a representative sample of healthy children and adolescents.

Authors

Hooman Ganjavi, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
John D Lewis, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Pierre Bellec, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Penny A MacDonald, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Deborah P Waber, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Alan C Evans, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada & Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Sherif Karama, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada & McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada & Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada & Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The Brain Development Cooperative Group

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Journal

PLoS One

Volume

6

Issue

5

First Page

19698

Last Page

19698

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1371/journal.pone.0019698

Abstract

Documented associations between corpus callosum size and cognitive ability have heretofore been inconsistent potentially owing to differences in sample characteristics, differing methodologies in measuring CC size, or the use of absolute versus relative measures. We investigated the relationship between CC size and intelligence quotient (IQ) in the NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development sample, a large cohort of healthy children and adolescents (aged six to 18, n = 198) recruited to be representative of the US population. CC midsagittal area was measured using an automated system that partitioned the CC into 25 subregions. IQ was measured using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI). After correcting for total brain volume and age, a significant negative correlation was found between total CC midsagittal area and IQ (r = -0.147; p = 0.040). Post hoc analyses revealed a significant negative correlation in children (age