This theory stems from the idea of neurodiversity, a term first coined by the Australian sociologist Judy Singer, who sees autism as a natural brain variation, not a brain disorder.
We examined the relationship between structural brain variation and general intelligence using voxel-based morphometric analysis of MRI data in men and women with equivalent IQ scores.
The pattern of brain variation seen in both humans and chimpanzees suggests this structural variation evolved in a common ancestor, enabling them to adapt to selective pressures in their environment.
This wide distribution was not expected, because our study of tubulin isotypes in pig brains showed very little brain-to-brain variation.
Although in that study the genetic variation was associated with metabolic phenotypic variation, brain structure/function phenotypic variation also may be associated with CAG repeat length in HTT.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we then analyzed the influence of local brain activity variations prior to task appearance on reaction times, thus avoiding signal contributions from stimulus-driven attention.
Such sources may not be explained easily with parametric functions because of the presence of complex regional interactions within the brain and variations in activation across subjects.
Although most studies have investigated only relative brain size variation (correcting brain size for variation in body size), absolute brain size can also account for differences in behaviour and/or habitat use.
To gain a broader understanding of the role of BDNF in brain volume variation, AUD and childhood adversity, variation (in linkage equilibrium) across the entire gene should be considered as well as the expression of the gene in brain volumes of interest.
