The human language effective connectome

Brain connectivity datasets comprise networks of brain regions connected by anatomical tracts or by functional associations. Complex network analysis-a new multidisciplinary approach to the study of complex systems-aims to characterize these brain networks with a small number of neurobiologically meaningful and easily computable measures. In this article, we discuss construction of brain networks from connectivity data and describe the most commonly used network measures of structural and functional connectivity. We describe measures that variously detect functional integration and segregation, quantify centrality of individual brain regions or pathways, characterize patterns of local anatomical circuitry, and test resilience of networks to insult. We discuss the issues surrounding comparison of structural and functional network connectivity, as well as comparison of networks across subjects. Finally, we describe a Matlab toolbox (http://www.brain-connectivity-toolbox.net) accompanying this article and containing a collection of complex network measures and large-scale neuroanatomical connectivity datasets. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) faces the challenging task of bringing multiple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities together in a common automated preprocessing framework across a large cohort of subjects. The MRI data acquired by the HCP differ in many ways from data acquired on conventional 3 Tesla scanners and often require newly developed preprocessing methods. We describe the minimal preprocessing pipelines for structural, functional, and diffusion MRI that were developed by the HCP to accomplish many low level tasks, including spatial artifact/distortion removal, surface generation, cross-modal registration, and alignment to standard space. These pipelines are specially designed to capitalize on the high quality data offered by the HCP. The final standard space makes use of a recently introduced CIFTI file format and the associated grayordinate spatial coordinate system. This allows for combined cortical surface and subcortical volume analyses while reducing the storage and processing requirements for high spatial and temporal resolution data. Here, we provide the minimum image acquisition requirements for the HCP minimal preprocessing pipelines and additional advice for investigators interested in replicating the HCP's acquisition protocols or using these pipelines. Finally, we discuss some potential future improvements to the pipelines. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding the amazingly complex human cerebral cortex requires a map (or parcellation) of its major subdivisions, known as cortical areas. Making an accurate areal map has been a century-old objective in neuroscience. Using multi-modal magnetic resonance images from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and an objective semi-automated neuroanatomical approach, we delineated 180 areas per hemisphere bounded by sharp changes in cortical architecture, function, connectivity, and/or topography in a precisely aligned group average of 210 healthy young adults. We characterized 97 new areas and 83 areas previously reported using post-mortem microscopy or other specialized study-specific approaches. To enable automated delineation and identification of these areas in new HCP subjects and in future studies, we trained a machine-learning classifier to recognize the multi-modal ‘fingerprint’ of each cortical area. This classifier detected the presence of 96.6% of the cortical areas in new subjects, replicated the group parcellation, and could correctly locate areas in individuals with atypical parcellations. The freely available parcellation and classifier will enable substantially improved neuroanatomical precision for studies of the structural and functional organization of human cerebral cortex and its variation across individuals and in development, aging, and disease.