Table 4 Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test battery. The total recording duration is < 45 min. (fMRI: functional MRI; MP2RAGE: magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient echoes; FOV: Field Of View; TR: Time to Repetition; TE: Time to Echo; TI1: Inversion Time 1; TI2; Inversion Time 2; EPI: Echo Planar Imaging)

Gray matter assessment

Thickness, surface area, volume changes [101]

T1-weighted MRI, MPRAGE [05:12]; voxel size: 0.8 mm isotropic; 208 slices; FOV: 230x230x166.4 mm; GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2; TR/TE: 2000/2.49 ms; TI: 900 ms; flip angle 9 degrees 

White matter assessment

Evaluation of the structural connectivity: white matter fiber connections features (integrity, diffusivity etc.), crucial for information exchanges between different parts of the brain ([102]

Multishell Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) [07:12]; voxel size: 1.8 mm isotropic; 76 slices; FOV: 208x208x120 mm; GRAPPA acceleration factor: 2, multiband accelerator factor: 2; TR/TE: 3573/61.6 ms; b-values: 0/1000/2000 s/mm²; 9/30/60 directions, anterior to posterior phase encoding direction followed by a reverse direction for distortion correction; b-values: 0/ s/mm²)

Task-related brain activity (task-fMRI:

1. Tonal WM adapted from [87, 88]

1 EPI run [≈09:30]; voxel size: 2.5 mm isotropic; 51 slices; FOV: 210x210x127.5 mm; TR/TE: 1000/30 ms; multiband accelerator factor: 3

2. Visual n-back WM, adapted from [93]

1 EPI run [≈09:30]; voxel size: 2.5 mm isotropic; 51 slices; FOV: 210x210x127.5 mm; TR/TE: 1000/30 ms; multiband accelerator factor: 3

Resting State brain activity (RS-fMRI)

Measures activity at rest and global functional connectivity of the brain (temporal correlations of activity between distant regions) [103]

1 EPI run [08:30]; voxel size: 2.5 mm isotropic; 51 slices; FOV: 210x210x127.5 mm; TR/TE: 1000/30 ms; multiband accelerator factor: 3