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Mapping the Human Connectome - Structure, Function, and Heritability: Healthy Young Adults (Age 22-35 Years) Including Twins and their Non-Twin Siblings

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) has acquired vast amounts of data about the pattern of long-distance connections (wiring) in the brains of large numbers of healthy participants aged 22-35 using cutting-edge MRI and MEG neuroimaging, and extensive behavioral testing. Types of MR data collected included diffusion MRI (dMRI), resting-state functional MRI (r-fMRI), and structural MRI at both 3T and 7T, and task-evoked functional MRI (t-fMRI) at 3T.

Following an extensive period of development and optimization of data acquisition and analysis methods, at Washington University in St. Louis we studied 1,206 participants comprising twins and their non-twin siblings. A subset of 184 twins was scanned again at the University of Minnesota using a 7T scanner. A different subset of 95 twins was studied at St. Louis University using combined resting state and/or task-activated MEG.

We were able to collect genetic data on 1142 of our 1206 participants, including 149 pairs of genetically-confirmed monozygotic twins (298 participants) and 94 pairs of genetically-confirmed dizygotic twins (188 participants). Overall, there are 457 different families in the study, as determined by genetic analysis.

Our rich set of imaging, behavioral and genetic data - available through the Human Connectome database - will enable many types of analysis of brain circuitry, its relationship to behavior, and the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to brain circuits.