Database-Driven Identification of Functional Modules in the Cerebral Cortex

Abstract

The organization of the cerebral cortex into distinct modules may be described along several dimensions, most importantly structure, connectivity and function. Functional neuroimaging provides a powerful tool for the localization of function, which allows testing hypotheses about structure-function relationships. This method is, however, intrinsically less well suited to delineate the organization of a particular brain region. While neuroimaging studies may thus test hypotheses about a functional differentiation between cortical modules, their potential for delineating those in a particular region of interest is limited. Identification of cortical modules by differences in whole-brain connectivity profiles derived from diffusion tensor imaging or resting state correlations have therefore raised much recent interest. As these approaches, however, do not carry task-related information, the functional relevance of the obtained parcellation have so far remained largely elusive.