Correlation between corpus callosum sub-segmental area and cognitive processes in school-age children

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 29;9(8):e104549. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104549. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

We assessed the relationship between structural characteristics (area) and microstructure (apparent diffusion coefficient; ADC) of the corpus callosum (CC) in 57 healthy children aged 7.0 to 9.1 years, with diverse cognitive and academic abilities as well as executive functions evaluated with a neuropsychological battery for children. The CC was manually delineated and sub-segmented into six regions, and their ADC and area were measured. There were no significant differences between genders in the callosal region area or in ADC. The CC area and ADC, mainly of anterior regions, correlated with different cognitive abilities for each gender. Our results suggest that the relationship between cognitive abilities and CC characteristics is different between girls and boys and between the anterior and posterior regions of the CC. Furthermore, these findings strenghten the idea that regardless of the different interhemispheric connectivity schemes per gender, the results of cognitive tasks are very similar for girls and boys throughout childhood.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child Development
  • Cognition*
  • Corpus Callosum / anatomy & histology*
  • Corpus Callosum / physiology*
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sex Characteristics

Grants and funding

MBM is a doctoral student from “Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas”, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and received the doctoral scholarship 29881 from The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (the National Council of Science and Technology) (CONACYT). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.