Correction to: Communications Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08151-3, published online 17 May 2025

In the version of the article initially published, in the “Mediation analysis” section of the Methods, the text “This mediation model consists of four paths: (1) path c, the group effect on motor performance, that is, the total effect of the predictor on the outcome; (2) path a, the group effect on brain measures; (3) path b, the correlation between brain measures and motor scores, after controlling for the group factor; and (4) the a × b effect, which is referred to as the indirect effect and is indicative of whether the predictor-outcome relationship was significantly reduced after controlling for the mediator” should have read “This mediation model consists of four paths: (1) path c, the correlation between brain size and cognition, that is, the total effect of the predictor on the outcome; (2) path a, the correlation between brain size and the between-hemisphere functional distance; (3) path b, the correlation between the between-hemisphere functional distance and cognition, after controlling for the effect of brain size; and (4) the a × b effect, which is referred to as the indirect effect and is indicative of whether the predictor-outcome relationship was significantly reduced after controlling for the mediator”. This correction has now been made to the HTML and PDF versions of the article.