Heritability of cortical morphology reflects a sensory-fugal plasticity gradient

Human brain plastically adapts to environmental demands. Here, we propose that naturally occuring plasticity in certain brain areas should be reflected by higher environmental influence and therefore lower heritability of the structure of those brain areas. Mesulams (1998) seminal overview proposed a hierarchy of plasticity, where higher-order multimodal areas should be more plastic than lower-order sensory areas. Using microstructural and functional gradients as proxies for Mesulams hierarchy, we seek to test whether these gradients predict heritability of brain structure. We test this model simultaneously across multiple measures of cortical structure and microstructure derived from structural magnet resonance imaging. We also account for multiple other explanations of heritability differences, such as signal-to-noise ratio and spatial autocorrelation. We estimated heritability of brain areas using 984 participants from the Human Connectome Project. Multi-level modelling of heritability differences demonstrated that heritability is explained by both signal quality, as well as by the primary microstructural gradient. Namely, sensory areas had higher heritability and limbic/heteromodal areas had lower heritability. Given the increasing availability of genetically informed imaging data, heritability could be a quick method assess brain plasticity. Highlights (up to 85 chars)Cortical areas vary in heritability. This is seen across structural measures. Heritability differences could be explained by plasticity, topography, or noise. We build a comprehensive model testing many explanations across 5 measures. Heritability is explained by noise and 1st structural gradient reflecting plasticity. Heritability could be a method to study brain plasticity.