# Graph Spectral Characterization of Brain Cortical Morphology

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a graph-based spectral method to characterize and discriminate human brain cortical morphology, useful for studying brain changes and individual differences.

## Contribution

It proposes a novel graph encoding of cortical structures and spectral metrics as descriptors for cortical morphology analysis.

## Key findings

- Spectral metrics effectively differentiate hemispheric asymmetry.
- Metrics can discriminate gender differences in cortical morphology.
- Graph spectral features capture individual cortical structural variations.

## Abstract

The human brain cortical layer has a convoluted morphology that is unique to each individual. Characterization of the cortical morphology is necessary in longitudinal studies of structural brain change, as well as in discriminating individuals in health and disease. A method for encoding the cortical morphology in the form of a graph is presented. The design of graphs that encode the global cerebral hemisphere cortices as well as localized cortical regions is proposed. Spectral metrics derived from these graphs are then studied and proposed as descriptors of cortical morphology. As proof-of-concept of their applicability in characterizing cortical morphology, the metrics are studied in the context of hemispheric asymmetry as well as gender dependent discrimination of cortical morphology.