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Brain morphometry
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<p>Brain morphometry is a subfield of both <a href="/facts/Morphometry/sXgTqQCX">morphometry</a> and the <a href="/facts/Brain_science/o5RV8Cas">brain sciences</a>, concerned with the measurement of <a href="/facts/Brain/EKla9NkJ">brain</a> structures and changes thereof during <a href="/facts/Brain_development/hSjrUxCn">development</a>, aging, learning, disease and <a href="/facts/Brain_evolution/SLm05RBx">evolution</a>. Since <a href="/facts/Autopsy/GzSXuCH2">autopsy</a>-like dissection is generally impossible on living <a href="/facts/Brain/EKla9NkJ">brains</a>, brain morphometry starts with noninvasive <a href="/facts/Neuroimaging/dA5Cteaf">neuroimaging</a> data, typically obtained from <a href="/facts/Magnetic_resonance_imaging/Vh9yG9qq">magnetic resonance imaging</a> (MRI). These data are <a href="/facts/Born_digital/D32brufc">born digital</a>, which allows researchers to analyze the brain images further by using advanced mathematical and statistical methods such as shape quantification or <a href="/facts/Multivariate_analysis/tDuNcWrL">multivariate analysis</a>. This allows researchers to quantify anatomical features of the brain in terms of shape, mass, volume (e.g. of the <a href="/facts/Hippocampus/X7CqbP8X">hippocampus</a>, or of the primary versus secondary <a href="/facts/Visual_cortex/qmF8F5Sb">visual cortex</a>), and to derive more specific information, such as the <a href="/facts/Encephalization_quotient/tw7CzCSm">encephalization quotient</a>, grey matter density and white matter connectivity, <a href="/facts/Gyrification/NwB85Jy8">gyrification</a>, cortical thickness, or the amount of <a href="/facts/Cerebrospinal_fluid/tcWG7hhv">cerebrospinal fluid</a>. These variables can then be <a href="/facts/Brain_mapping/3KEeSSwL">mapped</a> within the brain volume or on the brain surface, providing a convenient way to assess their pattern and extent over time, across individuals or even between different <a href="/facts/Biological_species/oDg6b96r">biological species</a>. The field is rapidly evolving along with neuroimaging techniques—which deliver the underlying data—but also develops in part independently from them, as part of the emerging field of <a href="/facts/Neuroinformatics/5Csvq0C9">neuroinformatics</a>, which is concerned with developing and adapting <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">algorithms</a> to analyze those data. </p>