Title: Geometric constraints on human brain function.
Session: Oral Session
Speaker: James Pang
Abstract: Brain function is constrained by its underlying structure and anatomy. Attempts to understand this structure-function coupling have mostly focused on associations between structural and functional connectivity [1]. However, such univariate analysis cannot explain the mechanisms of how neural dynamics are constrained by a relatively stable neuroanatomical scaffold. In physics and engineering, structural constraints on system dynamics can be studied via the system's eigenmodes (aka modes), which are fundamental spatial patterns of the system's resonances [2]. Hence, spatiotemporal neural dynamics emerge from excitations of structural modes, much like the harmonics of a plucked violin string arise from vibrations of its modes. Which structural properties make a dominant contribution to dynamics where the brain's modes can be best derived from? Here, we show that the intrinsic geometry of the brain physically constrains emerging dynamics [3]. That is, diverse fMRI data from resting-state and task-evoked recordings in the human cortex and subcortex can be parsimoniously explained by modes derived from brain geometry (geometric modes) rather than from connectivity (connectome modes).
