Disentangling cortical functional connectivity strength and topography reveals divergent roles of genes and environment
Bianca Burger,
Karl-Heinz Nenning,
Ernst Schwartz,
Daniel S. Margulies,
Alexandros Goulas,
Hesheng Liu,
Simon Neubauer,
Justin Dauwels,
Daniela Prayer,
Georg Langs
Affiliations
Bianca Burger
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research Lab, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
Karl-Heinz Nenning
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research Lab, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria; Center for Biomedical Imaging and Neuromodulation, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States
Ernst Schwartz
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research Lab, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
Daniel S. Margulies
Université de Paris, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, 75006 Paris, France; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Alexandros Goulas
Institute for Computational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg University, Martinstr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Hesheng Liu
Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29466, USAs
Simon Neubauer
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
Justin Dauwels
TU Delft Fac. EEMCS Mekelweg 4 2628 CD Delft; Nayang Technological University, 639798, Singapore
Daniela Prayer
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Division of Neuroradiology and Musculo-skeletal Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
Georg Langs
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research Lab, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria; Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States; Corresponding author at: Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Computational Imaging Research Lab, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria.
The human brain varies across individuals in its morphology, function, and cognitive capacities. Variability is particularly high in phylogenetically modern regions associated with higher order cognitive abilities, but its relationship to the layout and strength of functional networks is poorly understood. In this study we disentangled the variability of two key aspects of functional connectivity: strength and topography. We then compared the genetic and environmental influences on these two features. Genetic contribution is heterogeneously distributed across the cortex and differs for strength and topography. In heteromodal areas genes predominantly affect the topography of networks, while their connectivity strength is shaped primarily by random environmental influence such as learning. We identified peak areas of genetic control of topography overlapping with parts of the processing stream from primary areas to network hubs in the default mode network, suggesting the coordination of spatial configurations across those processing pathways. These findings provide a detailed map of the diverse contribution of heritability and individual experience to the strength and topography of functional brain architecture.
