Structurally-constrained relationships between cognitive states in the human brain.
The anatomical connectivity of the human brain supports diverse patterns of correlated neural activity that are thought to underlie cognitive function. In a manner sensitive to underlying structural brain architecture, we examine the extent to which such patterns of correlated activity systematically vary across cognitive states. Anatomical white matter connectivity is compared with functional correlations in neural activity measured via blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals. Functional connectivity is separately measured at rest, during an attention task, and during a memory task. We assess these structural and functional measures within previously-identified resting-state functional networks, denoted task-positive and task-negative networks, that have been independently shown to be strongly anticorrelated at rest but also involve regions of the brain that routinely increase and decrease in activity during task-driven processes. We find that the density of anatomical connections within and between task-positive and task-negative networks is differentially related to strong, task-dependent correlations in neural activity. The space mapped out by the observed structure-function relationships is used to define a quantitative measure of separation between resting, attention, and memory states. We find that the degree of separation between states is related to both general measures of behavioral performance and relative differences in task-specific measures of attention versus memory performance. These findings suggest that the observed separation between cognitive states reflects underlying organizational principles of human brain structure and function.
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Ann M
AM
Hermundstad
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conneticutt, United States of America; Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conneticutt, United States of America; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conneticutt, United States of America; Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, Conneticutt, United States of America.
Kevin S
KS
Brown
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America; Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Danielle S
DS
Bassett
Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Elissa M
EM
Aminoff
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
Amy
A
Frithsen
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
Arianne
A
Johnson
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Christine M
CM
Tipper
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
Michael B
MB
Miller
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
Scott T
ST
Grafton
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America.
Jean M
JM
Carlson
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology