guest ::
| Home > Publications database > Brain–behaviour relationships and individual variability in cognitive and emotional processing |
| Home > Publications database > Brain–behaviour relationships and individual variability in cognitive and emotional processing |
| Dissertation / PhD Thesis | FZJ-2025-02791 |
2025
This record in other databases:
Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.34734/FZJ-2025-02791
Abstract: Human experience and behaviour is subject to multiple different mental processes,which can be separated into cognitive and socio-affective processes. Many studies investigate how experience and behaviour is linked to brain structure and function,and also how much in]luence can be attributed to our genetic makeup. However, littleis known about how behavioural domains are subject to different in]luencing factorsof inter-individual differences of the brain. In particular, how overlapping geneticinfluences exhibit in brain structure and which in]luence different functional task states drive in predictability of individual behaviour. Therefore, in my dissertation I investigated the phenotypic and genetic correlations of cognitive and affective traits and brain structure (cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volumes; study1). I further examined to what extent the correspondence of functional network priorsand task states with behavioural target domains in]luenced the predictability of individual performance in cognitive, social, and affective tasks (study 2).Using phenotypic correlation and heritability-analysis the ]irst study investigated heritability and genes as in]luencing factors on inter-individual differences of thebrain. Cognition revealed several associations with brain morphology, while trait affect revealed only few signi]icant correlations with subcortical volumes and localcortical thickness, where it overlaps in left superior frontal cortex with cognition.Decomposing the phenotypic association into genetic and environmental components, revealed that the associations were accounted for by shared geneticeffects between the traits. Using functional correlation and predictability of task statesand network priors the second study investigated state- and network-specificity asinfluencing factors on brain–behaviour relationships, by predicting individual performance in cognitive, social, and affective tasks. Predictions from whole-brain FC were slightly better than those from FC in task-specific networks, and a slight bene]it of predictions based on FC from task versus resting state was observed for performance in the cognitive domain.With my dissertation I provide an integrative model of how cognition and affect relate to the human brain. By combining insights from structural anatomy, heritability modelling, and functional connectivity-based prediction, my results reveal that these traditionally distinct domains share common neural substrates. The superior frontal cortex has been identified as a heritable anatomical hub for both cognitive andaffective traits. However, multivariate FC patterns during both task and resting states carried only moderate predictability of individual performance levels of cognition andsocio-affective processes, manifesting nevertheless the in]luence of brain state and network dynamics in shaping individual behaviour. In sum, with these studies Ireplicated previous ]indings, but also extended insights into the interplay of cognitive and socio-affective processes with brain–behaviour relationships, and how different factors influence inter-individual differences in the brain.
|
The record appears in these collections: |
PDF
Fulltext