Increasing diversity in connectomics with the Chinese Human Connectome Project

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human Brain Imaging
• Cultural Neuroscience

Background:

• Most neuroimaging datasets originate from Western populations, limiting transcultural comparative studies.
• Understanding brain structure and function requires diverse population data, including Eastern cultures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the Chinese Human Connectome Project (CHCP) dataset.
• To acquire multimodal neuroimaging, genetic, and behavioral data from healthy Chinese adults.
• To enable cross-cultural and cross-ethnic brain-mind research.

Main Methods:

• Collected multimodal neuroimaging data from a large sample of Chinese adults.
• Utilized a protocol comparable to the Human Connectome Project.
• Acquired genetic and behavioral data alongside imaging data.

Main Results:

• CHCP dataset shows both commonalities and distinctions in brain structure, function, and connectivity compared to the Human Connectome Project.
• Large-scale brain parcellations were highly reproducible across both datasets.
• Language processing tasks exhibited the most significant differences between the datasets.

Conclusions:

• The CHCP dataset is a valuable resource for transcultural neuroscience.
• Cultural factors significantly influence brain structure and function.
• Public availability of the CHCP dataset will advance global brain-mind research.