Structural Covariance of the Duplicated Heschl's Gyrus: A Sulcal/Gyral Template Morphology Approach

Heschl's gyrus (HG) can occur as a single gyrus or with a completely duplicated posterior HG that has been related to a variety of abilities and disorders. Voxel-based studies typically involve the normalization of these qualitatively different HG types, thus making it difficult to evaluate the contribution of sulcal/gyral variability to voxel-based effects and perhaps obscuring some effects. To examine the structural covariance of single and duplicated HG, templates were created for the left single and duplicated HG. Structural covariance analysis with a Jacobian measure of volumetric displacement demonstrated consistent spatial covariance with homologous structure in the right hemisphere across qualitatively different HG morphology. These results suggest that HG duplication is aptly named with respect to cortical structure variation and demonstrate a multi-template approach for studying qualitatively unique brain function and structure linked to perceptual and cognitive functions.

Qualitatively unique sulcal/gyral features can affect voxel-based analyses.Heschl's gyrus is highly variable across people.Morphology-specific templates were created to study Heschl's gyrus structural covariance.Single and duplicated Heschl's gyrus exhibited a similar pattern of covariance.