title: Highlighting the structure-function relationship of the brain with the Ising model and graph theory.
abstract: With the advent of neuroimaging techniques, it becomes feasible to explore the structure-function relationships in the brain. When the brain is not involved in any cognitive task or stimulated by any external output, it preserves important activities which follow well-defined spatial distribution patterns. Understanding the self-organization of the brain from its anatomical structure, it has been recently suggested to model the observed functional pattern from the structure of white matter fiber bundles. Different models which study synchronization (e.g., the Kuramoto model) or global dynamics (e.g., the Ising model) have shown success in capturing fundamental properties of the brain. In particular, these models can explain the competition between modularity and specialization and the need for integration in the brain. Graphing the functional and structural brain organization supports the model and can also highlight the strategy used to process and organize large amount of information traveling between the different modules. How the flow of information can be prevented or partially destroyed in pathological states, like in severe brain injured patients with disorders of consciousness or by pharmacological induction like in anaesthesia, will also help us to better understand how global or integrated behavior can emerge from local and modular interactions.
authors.affiliation: Physics & Astronomy Department, Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 3K7.
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Physics & Astronomy Department, Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 3K7.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Abeyasinghe
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Institute & Centre for Neurocognitive Research, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria ; Centre for Neurocognitive Research & Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria ; Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Crone
authors.affiliation: Physics & Astronomy Department, Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 3K7.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sosnowski
authors.affiliation: Cyclotron Research Center and University Hospital of Liège, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium ; Department of Neurology, CHU Sart Tilman Hospital, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laureys
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 5B7.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: Physics & Astronomy Department, Brain & Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 3K7.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soddu
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology