Alex Smith1, Michael De Bellis2, 3, Nan-kuei Chen1
1Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; 2Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; 3Healthy Childhood Brain Development and Developmental Traumatology Research Program, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
Fractional Anisotropy, as measured by DTI, increases with age and intelligence during normal development, however, this is understudied in developing adolescents. DTI datasets from healthy children were acquired, and a voxelwise analysis was performed contrasting age and IQ against FA. Significant clusters were discovered in the corpus callosum and splenium correlating with age, while significant clusters were discovered globally when correlating with IQ. These findings suggest that white matter integrity increases with age and IQ in adolescence, and can have important implications later in life.