Karbasi, A. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2018

There is no single functional atlas even for a single individual: Parcellation of the human brain is state dependent

The goal of human brain mapping has long been to delineate the functional subunits in the brain and elucidate the functional role of each of these brain regions. Recent work has focused on whole-brain parcellation of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data to identify these subunits and create a functional atlas. Functional connectivity approaches to understand the brain at the network level, require such an atlas to assess connections between nodes and extract network properties. While no single functional atlas has emerged as the dominant atlas to date, there remains an underlying assumption that such an atlas exists. Using fMRI data from a highly sampled subject as well as two independent replication data sets, we demonstrate that functional atlases reconfigure substantially and in a meaningful manner, according to brain state.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

State-specific individualized functional networks form a predictive signature of brain state

There is extensive evidence that human brain functional organization is dynamic, varying within a subject as the brain switches between tasks demands. This functional organization also varies across subjects, even when they are all engaged in similar tasks. Currently, we lack a comprehensive model that unifies the two dimensions of variation (brain state and subject). Using fMRI data obtained across multiple task-evoked and rest conditions (which we operationally define as brain states) and across multiple subjects, we develop a state-and subject-specific functional network parcellation (the assignment of nodes to networks). Our parcellation approach provides a measure of how node-to-network assignment (NNA) changes across states and across subjects. We demonstrate that the brains functional networks are not spatially fixed, but reconfigure with brain state. This reconfiguration is robust and reliable to such an extent that it can be used to predict brain state with accuracies up to 97%.

neuroscience↗