Bridging functional and anatomical neural connectivity through cluster synchronization

Abstract

The dynamics of the brain results from the complex interplay of several neural populations and is affected by both the individual dynamics of these areas and their connection structure. Hence, a fundamental challenge is to derive models of the brain that reproduce both structural and functional features measured experimentally. Our work combines neuroimaging data, such as dMRI, which provides information on the structure of the anatomical connectomes, and fMRI, which detects patterns of approximate synchronous activity between brain areas. We employ cluster synchronization as a tool to integrate the imaging data of a subject into a coherent model, which reconciles structural and dynamic information. By using data-driven and model-based approaches, we refine the structural connectivity matrix in agreement with experimentally observed clusters of brain areas that display coherent activity. The proposed approach leverages the assumption of homogeneous brain areas; we show the robustness of this approach when heterogeneity between the brain areas is reintroduced in the form of noise, parameter mismatches, and connection delays. As a proof of concept, we apply this approach to MRI data of a healthy adult at resting state.