Genetic overlap between in-scanner head motion and the default network connectivity

Abstract The association between in-scanner head motion and intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) may confound explanations for individual differences in functional connectomics. However, the etiology of the correlation between head motion and iFC has not been established. This study aimed to investigate genetic and environmental contributions on the association between head motion and iFC using a twin dataset (175 same-sex twin pairs, aged 14-23 years, 48% females). After establishing that both head motion and default network iFC are moderately heritable, we found large genetic correlations (-0.52 to -0.73) between head motion and the default network iFCs. Common genes can explain 48% - 61% of the negative phenotypic correlation between the two phenotypes. These results advance our understanding of the relationship between head motion and iFC, and may have profound implications for interpreting individual differences in default network connectivity in clinical research and brain-behavior association.