What matters most for childhood brain organization?

We analyzed 649 variables.
The answer: Socioeconomics (SES); with brain patterns pointing at sleep & stress as drivers.

Even brain-IQ associations were better explained by SES confounding.

In Science: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… Using ABCD data, we performed mass uni- & multivariate Brain-Wide Association Studies (BWAS) for 649 exposures + phenotypes & ranked the results.

SES variables had the strongest associations.

37/40 top associations reflected children's SES.

SES: The elephant in the brain.

A common response to the BWAS paper (nature.com/articles/s4158…) has been “well you don’t need 1,000 people for BWAS reproducibility for this example”. @tervoclemmensb @ndosenbach @DrDamienFair

Does the math back that up?

Let’s dive in
👇🧵 The largest univariate BWAS (out of millions, see full distribution below) that we found was r=0.165.

How many people do you need to be 80% powered to detect that single association?

Well - that depends on your level of multiple comparison correction.

A dream come true, now out @Nature w @tervoclemmensb

nature.com/articles/s4158…

I started this project before knowing my wife and kid.

Science can be a slog, this one was worth it.

Pointing towards an exciting future for brain-behavior research.

A🧵👇 This paper is not about all neuroimaging, but very specifically about cross-sectional correlations between individual differences in brain structure and function with psychological phenotypes. Please read and share with appropriate nuance.