Comparative analysis of anatomical modularity across structural brain network models: A cognitive study in gifted children

The brain’s modular organisation is essential for cognition, yet how anatomical modularity relates to cognitive performance in children and depends on network construction methods remains unclear. We investigated this in 29 male children (15 gifted, 14 control) by comparing anatomical modular patterns of the von Economo (VE) atlas between morphometric similarity networks (MSNs) and morphometric inverse divergence (MIND) networks across densities. Group- and individual-level analyses examined VE-region pair connectivity and intra-/inter-modular connectivity using directional statistics, mean signed Euclidean distance, and Spearman correlation. In this dataset, MSN showed stronger group discrimination and cognitive associations than MIND, with the clearest patterns in the 0.05–0.15 density range. Across both networks, higher cognitive performance was associated with stronger intra-modular connectivity and, more clearly in MSN, reduced inter-modular connectivity. Convergent descriptive patterns across metrics highlighted increased within-module connectivity in frontal association areas (VE 2-2) and secondary sensory areas (VE 4-4), and reduced coupling between posterior association and secondary sensory areas (VE 3-4). Divergent patterns in certain pairs (e.g., VE 1-7, 2-7 and 5-6) underscore methodological distinctions between network types. Because many VE-pair and density-specific analyses were exploratory and no formal multiple-comparisons correction was applied, the highlighted pairwise findings are interpreted as pattern convergence across complementary metrics rather than as corrected confirmatory inference. These exploratory findings, limited to a small sample of male children, suggest that network construction method and density choice can influence detection of modularity-behaviour associations. This offers preliminary guidance for future work on anatomical modularity and cognition in children.