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7 - Structural Morphometry and Connectivity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2026

Jonas Vibell
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Thomas Thesen
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

Chapter 7 deals with neuroimaging methods for investigating the structural components underlying brain function. Beginning with lesion-symptom mapping (LSM), which identifies relationships between localized brain damage and specific cognitive deficits, the chapter examines how structural abnormalities correlate with functional impairments. Three primary approaches to measuring brain structures with MRI are discussed: structure tracing for hypothesis-driven volumetric analysis, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) for whole-brain comparison of tissue concentration, and surface-based morphometry (SBM) for analyzing the cortical sheet’s unique properties including thickness, curvature, and gyrification. The chapter then explores diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a technique that visualizes white-matter tracts by measuring the anisotropic diffusion of water molecules along axon bundles. DTI tractography reveals the brain’s “highways,” short, intermediate, and long-range fiber pathways that connect functional modules within and across hemispheres. Together, these complementary techniques provide critical insights into the structural architecture supporting brain networks, offering a more complete understanding of brain organization when combined with functional imaging methods.

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Type
Chapter
Information
Brain Imaging Essentials
Current Tools and Their Capabilities
, pp. 102 - 115
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2026

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References

References and Further Reading

Antonenko, D., Brauer, J., Meinzer, M. et al. (2013). Functional and structural syntax networks in aging. Neuroimage, 83, 513523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glasser, M. F., & Rilling, J. K. (2008). DTI tractography of the human brain’s language pathways. Cerebral Cortex, 18(11), 24712482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuzniecky, R., & Thesen, T. (2011). Individual differences in verbal abilities associated with regional blurring of the left gray and white matter boundary. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(43), 1525715263.Google Scholar
Mechelli, A., Price, C. J., Friston, K. J., & Ashburner, J. (2005). Voxel-based morphometry of the human brain: Methods and applications. Current Medical Imaging, 1(2), 105113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, J. M., Marques, P., Alves, V., & Sousa, N. (2013). A hitchhiker’s guide to diffusion tensor imaging. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Essen, D. C., & Dierker, D. L. (2007). Surface-based and probabilistic atlases of primate cerebral cortex. Neuron, 56(2), 209225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, S. M. (2017). Lesion-symptom mapping in the study of spoken language understanding. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 32(7), 891899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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