Abstract
The white matter architecture of the brain imparts a distinct signature on neuronal coactivation patterns. Interregional projections promote synchrony among distant neuronal populations, giving rise to richly patterned functional networks. A variety of statistical, communication, and biophysical models have been proposed to study the relationship between brain structure and function, but the link is not yet known. In the present report we seek to relate the structural and functional connection profiles of individual brain areas. We apply a simple multilinear model that incorporates information about spatial proximity, routing, and diffusion between brain regions to predict their functional connectivity. We find that structure-function relationships vary markedly across the neocortex. Structure and function correspond closely in unimodal, primary sensory, and motor regions, but diverge in transmodal cortex, particularly the default mode and salience networks. The divergence between structure and function systematically follows functional and cytoarchitectonic hierarchies. Altogether, the present results demonstrate that structural and functional networks do not align uniformly across the brain, but gradually uncouple in higher-order polysensory areas.
Highlights
The white matter architecture of the brain imparts a distinct signature on neuronal coactivation patterns
We address the relationship between structure and function by focusing on connection profiles of individual brain regions
Functional connectivity was estimated in the same healthy individuals using resting-state functional MRI
Summary
The white matter architecture of the brain imparts a distinct signature on neuronal coactivation patterns. In the present report we seek to relate the structural and functional connection profiles of individual brain areas. A prominent account posits that rapid evolutionary expansion of association cortices effectively “untethers” polysensory regions from molecular signaling gradients and canonical sensory-motor activity cascades, resulting in fundamentally different structure–function relationships along the unimodal– transmodal hierarchy [23]. We address the relationship between structure and function by focusing on connection profiles of individual brain regions. The focus has traditionally been on using whole-brain structural connectivity to predict whole-brain functional connectivity, with the assumption that a common mechanism operates across the entire network These methods have proved insightful and generally yield moderate fits to empirical functional connectivity patterns, from ∼25% to 50% of the variance explained [17]
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