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A model of developmental canalization, applied to human cranial form

Fig 7

Canalization of craniofacial shape.

(A) Total craniofacial shape variance from 2 to 17 years of age. (B) Total canalized shape variance, approximated by (C) Variance of the first four dimensions of the two-block partial least squares (PLS) analysis between craniofacial shape at age 2 and the shape changes from age 2 to 3 (see Fig 8). In other words, these are the cross-sectional variances of the shape features with maximal canalized variance from age 2 to 3. (D) Approximated canalized variance of these four PLS dimensions. The first dimension (blue curve) shows canalization until 6 years and again from 9 to 13, leading to a reduction of cross-sectional variance throughout postnatal development. Dimensions 2 and 3 only show canalization until 6 years of age, whereas dimension 4 shows no signs of canalization (individual differences were even amplified rather than reduced).

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008381.g007