Figure 7. Quantitative measure of image quality is associated with cortical thickness.

In usable images that were not excluded due to gross artifact, cortical thickness was significantly related to the Euler number in a regionally heterogeneous pattern. Higher data quality was associated with thicker cortex over much of the brain, but was conversely associated with thinner cortex in occipital and posterior cingulate cortex. This pattern was present across all datasets. Image displays z-scores from a mass-univariate linear regression, where regional cortical thickness was the outcome and Euler number was the predictor of interest; covariates included age, age squared, and sex. All results corrected for multiple comparisons using the False Discovery Rate (q < 0.05).