Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts
23 affiliations
- 1Medical Scientist Training Program Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 2Department of Computer Science Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 3Department of Psychological Science and Neuroscience Belmont University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 4Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 5Vanderbilt Brain Institute Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 6Vanderbilt Genetics Institute Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 7Vanderbilt Memory and Alzheimer's Center Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 8Department of Medicine Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 9Department of Neurology Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 10Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 11Department of Psychology and Human Development Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 12Department of Biomedical Engineering Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA
- 13Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 14Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science Nashville Tennessee USA
- 15Department of Neurological Surgery Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 16Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health Baltimore Maryland USA
- 17Department of Special Education Peabody College of Education and Human Development Nashville Tennessee USA
- 18Life Span Institute and Department of Psychology University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas USA
- 19Department of Computer Science Park University Parkville Missouri USA
- 20Department of Biostatistics Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA
- 21Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Laboratory Paris France
- 22Donders Centre for Cognition Radboud University Nijmegen the Netherlands
- 23Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Nijmegen the Netherlands
Abstract
Asymmetry in white matter is believed to give rise to the brain's capacity for specialized processing and is involved in the lateralization of various cognitive processes, such as language and visuo-spatial reasoning. Although studies of white matter asymmetry have been previously documented, they have often been constrained by limited age ranges, sample sizes, or the scope of the tracts and structural features examined. While normative lifespan charts for brain structures are emerging, comprehensive charts detailing white matter asymmetries across numerous pathways and diverse structural measures have been notably absent. This study addresses this gap by leveraging a large-scale dataset of 35,120 typically developing and aging individuals, ranging from 0 to 100 years of age, from 50 primary neuroimaging studies. We generated comprehensive lifespan trajectories for 30 lateralized association and projection white matter tracts, examining six distinct microstructural and macrostructural features of these pathways. Our findings reveal that: (1) asymmetries are widespread across the brain's white matter and are present in all 30 pathways; (2) for a given pathway, the degree and direction of asymmetry differ between features of tissue microstructure and pathway macrostructure; (3) asymmetries vary across and within pathway types (association and projection tracts); and (4) these asymmetries are not static, following unique trajectories across the lifespan, with distinct changes during development, and a general trend of becoming more asymmetric with increasing age (particularly in later adulthood) across pathways. This study represents the most extensive characterization of white matter asymmetry across the lifespan to date, charting how lateralization patterns emerge, mature, and change throughout life. It provides a foundational resource for understanding the principles of white matter organization from early to late life, its relation to functional specialization and inter-individual variability, and offers a key reference for interpreting deviations during healthy development and aging as well as those associated with clinical populations.
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BibTeX
@article{bogdanov2026lifespan,
title = {{Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts}},
author = {Sam Bogdanov and Praitayini Kanakaraj and Michael E. Kim and Jessica Samir and Chenyu Gao and Karthik Ramadass and Gaurav Rudravaram and Nancy R. Newlin and Derek B. Archer and Timothy J. Hohman and Angela Lee Jefferson and Victoria L. Morgan and Alexandra Roche and Dario J. Englot and Susan M. Resnick and Lori L. Beason‐Held and Laurie E. Cutting and Laura A. Barquero and Micah A. D’Archangel and Tin Q. Nguyen and Kathryn Leigh Humphreys and Yanbin Niu and Sophia Vinci‐Booher and Carissa J. Cascio and The HABS-HD Study Team and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and The BIOCARD Study Team and Zhiyuan Li and Simon Vandekar and Panpan Zhang and John C. Gore and Stephanie J. Forkel and Bennett A. Landman and Kurt G. Schilling},
journal = {Human Brain Mapping},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1002/hbm.70519},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70519},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts
AU - Sam Bogdanov
AU - Praitayini Kanakaraj
AU - Michael E. Kim
AU - Jessica Samir
AU - Chenyu Gao
AU - Karthik Ramadass
AU - Gaurav Rudravaram
AU - Nancy R. Newlin
AU - Derek B. Archer
AU - Timothy J. Hohman
AU - Angela Lee Jefferson
AU - Victoria L. Morgan
AU - Alexandra Roche
AU - Dario J. Englot
AU - Susan M. Resnick
AU - Lori L. Beason‐Held
AU - Laurie E. Cutting
AU - Laura A. Barquero
AU - Micah A. D’Archangel
AU - Tin Q. Nguyen
AU - Kathryn Leigh Humphreys
AU - Yanbin Niu
AU - Sophia Vinci‐Booher
AU - Carissa J. Cascio
AU - The HABS-HD Study Team
AU - Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
AU - The BIOCARD Study Team
AU - Zhiyuan Li
AU - Simon Vandekar
AU - Panpan Zhang
AU - John C. Gore
AU - Stephanie J. Forkel
AU - Bennett A. Landman
AU - Kurt G. Schilling
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/01
JO - Human Brain Mapping
DO - 10.1002/hbm.70519
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70519
AB - Asymmetry in white matter is believed to give rise to the brain's capacity for specialized processing and is involved in the lateralization of various cognitive processes, such as language and visuo-spatial reasoning. Although studies of white matter asymmetry have been previously documented, they have often been constrained by limited age ranges, sample sizes, or the scope of the tracts and structural features examined. While normative lifespan charts for brain structures are emerging, comprehensive charts detailing white matter asymmetries across numerous pathways and diverse structural measures have been notably absent. This study addresses this gap by leveraging a large-scale dataset of 35,120 typically developing and aging individuals, ranging from 0 to 100 years of age, from 50 primary neuroimaging studies. We generated comprehensive lifespan trajectories for 30 lateralized association and projection white matter tracts, examining six distinct microstructural and macrostructural features of these pathways. Our findings reveal that: (1) asymmetries are widespread across the brain's white matter and are present in all 30 pathways; (2) for a given pathway, the degree and direction of asymmetry differ between features of tissue microstructure and pathway macrostructure; (3) asymmetries vary across and within pathway types (association and projection tracts); and (4) these asymmetries are not static, following unique trajectories across the lifespan, with distinct changes during development, and a general trend of becoming more asymmetric with increasing age (particularly in later adulthood) across pathways. This study represents the most extensive characterization of white matter asymmetry across the lifespan to date, charting how lateralization patterns emerge, mature, and change throughout life. It provides a foundational resource for understanding the principles of white matter organization from early to late life, its relation to functional specialization and inter-individual variability, and offers a key reference for interpreting deviations during healthy development and aging as well as those associated with clinical populations.
SN - 1065-9471
SN - 1097-0193
ER -