Multiscale communication in cortico-cortical networks

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Signaling in brain networks unfolds over multiple topological scales. Areas may exchange information over local circuits, encompassing direct neighbours and areas with similar functions, or over global circuits, encompassing distant neighbours with dissimilar functions. Here we study how the organization of cortico-cortical networks mediate localized and global communication by parametrically tuning the range at which signals are transmitted on the white matter connectome. We show that brain regions vary in their preferred communication scale. By investigating the propensity for brain areas to communicate with their neighbors across multiple scales, we naturally reveal their functional diversity: unimodal regions show preference for local communication and multimodal regions show preferences for global communication. We show that these preferences manifest as region- and scale-specific structure-function coupling. Namely, the functional connectivity of unimodal regions emerges from monosynaptic communication in small-scale circuits, while the functional connectivity of transmodal regions emerges from polysynaptic communication in large-scale circuits. Altogether, the present findings reveal that communication preferences are highly heterogeneous across the cortex, shaping regional differences in structure-function coupling.