Cognitive Effort Drives Workspace Configuration of Human Brain Functional Networks

422

330

There is growing interest in the complex topology of human brain functional networks, often measured using resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). Here, we used a meta-analysis of the large primary literature that used fMRI or PET to measure task-related activation (>1,600 studies; 1985–2010). We estimated the similarity (Jaccard index) of the activation patterns across experimental tasks between each pair of 638 brain regions. This continuous coactivation matrix was used to build a weighted graph to characterize network topology. The coactivation network was modular, with occipital, central, and default-mode modules predominantly coactivated by specific cognitive domains (perception, action, and emotion, respectively). It also included a rich club of hub nodes, located in parietal and prefrontal cortex and often connected over long distances, which were coactivated by a diverse range of experimental tasks. Investigating the topological role of edges between a deactivated and an activated node, we found that such competitive interactions were most frequent between nodes in different modules or between an activated rich-club node and a deactivated peripheral node. Many aspects of the coactivation network were convergent with a connectivity network derived from resting state fMRI data ( n = 27, healthy volunteers); although the connectivity network was more parsimoniously connected and differed in the anatomical locations of some hubs. We conclude that the community structure of human brain networks is relevant to cognitive function. Deactivations may play a role in flexible reconfiguration of the network according to cognitive demand, varying the integration between modules, and between the periphery and a central rich club.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive relevance of the community structure of the human brain functional coactivation network

Crossley

Mechelli

Vértes

et al. 2013

422

330

“…In younger adults, this modular architecture facilitates the common processing roles of areas within similar systems while allowing communication between systems with distinct processing roles (21). Consistent with this, there is evidence for a relationship between measures of modularity and changes in task performance and learning in healthy young adults (49,50). Conversely, comparisons of younger and older adults have revealed differences in brainwide modularity in a direction consistent with the present observations (30,32,33,36).…”

Section: Rsfc-defined System Segregation As a Metric Of Functional Spsupporting

confidence: 87%

Decreased segregation of brain systems across the healthy adult lifespan

Chan

Park

Savalia

et al. 2014

698

117

873

Healthy aging has been associated with decreased specialization in brain function. This characterization has focused largely on describing age-accompanied differences in specialization at the level of neurons and brain areas. We expand this work to describe systems-level differences in specialization in a healthy adult lifespan sample (n = 210; 20-89 y). A graph-theoretic framework is used to guide analysis of functional MRI resting-state data and describe systems-level differences in connectivity of individual brain networks. Young adults' brain systems exhibit a balance of within-and between-system correlations that is characteristic of segregated and specialized organization. Increasing age is accompanied by decreasing segregation of brain systems. Compared with systems involved in the processing of sensory input and motor output, systems mediating "associative" operations exhibit a distinct pattern of reductions in segregation across the adult lifespan. Of particular importance, the magnitude of association system segregation is predictive of long-term memory function, independent of an individual's age.aging | brain networks | resting-state correlations | memory | connectome

“…Examination of MEG data using these techniques has demonstrated that functional brain network organization is a biologically meaningful phenotype being altered in disease states (25) in ways that can be linked to behavioral task performance (60)(61)(62). Moreover, network organization demonstrates temporal variability that can be induced by cognitive remediation strategies (63), task practice (64), learning (41,53,65), or task difficulty (66).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic network structure of interhemispheric coordination

Doron

Bassett

Gazzaniga

2012

135

143

Fifty years ago Gazzaniga and coworkers published a seminal article that discussed the separate roles of the cerebral hemispheres in humans. Today, the study of interhemispheric communication is facilitated by a battery of novel data analysis techniques drawn from across disciplinary boundaries, including dynamic systems theory and network theory. These techniques enable the characterization of dynamic changes in the brain's functional connectivity, thereby providing an unprecedented means of decoding interhemispheric communication. Here, we illustrate the use of these techniques to examine interhemispheric coordination in healthy human participants performing a split visual field experiment in which they process lexical stimuli. We find that interhemispheric coordination is greater when lexical information is introduced to the right hemisphere and must subsequently be transferred to the left hemisphere for language processing than when it is directly introduced to the language-dominant (left) hemisphere. Further, we find that putative functional modules defined by coherent interhemispheric coordination come online in a transient manner, highlighting the underlying dynamic nature of brain communication. Our work illustrates that recently developed dynamic, network-based analysis techniques can provide novel and previously unapproachable insights into the role of interhemispheric coordination in cognition.T he field of split-brain research began several decades ago with the use of a drastic surgical solution for intractable epilepsy (1-3): the severing of the corpus callosum. This procedure significantly decreased the connectivity between the hemispheres, thereby irrevocably altering interhemispheric communication. Although a few interhemispheric pathways remained through subcortical structures and the anterior commissure, examination of callosal function using split visual field experiments clearly demonstrated its role in interhemispheric communication (2). The callosal projection plays a particularly crucial role in a variety of sensory-motor integrative functions of the two hemispheres (4), shows changes with age, and demonstrates the potential for dynamic changes with training (5). In fact, experiments in patients with severance of the callosum revealed that it subserves a large range of behaviors and cognitive functions that underlie the varied workings of the mind.Interhemispheric communication has been studied using two basic approaches. The first uses behavioral experiments to examine cognitive phenotypes, and the second uses neuroscientific experiments to examine brain phenotypes. Split-brain research initially focused on the former: Patients demonstrated striking behavioral phenotypes that provided clues regarding the underlying mechanics of brain communication. For example, although most perceptual processing appears to be isolated in each hemisphere following surgery, some attentional and emotional mechanisms initiated in one hemisphere can still be communicated to the other, cortically disconnected,...