Courtesy of Dr Simon Cox and Dr Stuart Ritchie, this image illustrates association magnitudes (standardised βs) between age and mean diffusivity of brain white matter tracts measured with MRI in a sample of more than 3,500 participants from the UK Biobank study, rendered in superior (left), anterior (centre) and lateral (right) views. Diffusion parameters were analysed from 27 major white matter tracts in this group of generally healthy middle-aged and older adults. Tract-specific associations between age and less healthy white matter were found to be strongest (red end of scale) in thalamic and association pathways, and weakest (white end of scale) in projection fibres.

The image is taken from a recent study published in Nature Communications:

Cox SR, Ritchie SJ, Tucker-Drob EM, Liewald DC, Hagenaars SP, Davies G, Wardlaw JM, Gale CR, Bastin ME, Deary IJ. Ageing and brain white matter structure in 3,513 UK Biobank participants. Nature Communications 2016; 7:13629.