Structure-Function Relationships behind the Phenomenon of Cognitive Resilience in Neurology: Insights for Neuroscience and Medicine

Figure 3

Dissociations between functional and structural connectivity and renormalization of function. (a) Preserved bilateral, symmetrical functional connectivity from resting fMRI in patients with agenesis of the corpus callosum (from [105]). Top-tier: sagittal slices of T1-weighted MRI data from a normal comparison participant (left) and an agenesis patient (right). The normal location of the corpus callosum (CC) is indicated with dashed yellow lines. Bottom-tier: axial slices showing similar bilateral functional connectivity from resting fMRI in both patients and normal comparison participants. (b) Evidence for rapid renormalization of functional connectivity (3–6 months) in the process of recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI) (from [96]). Charts represent matrices of functional connectivity derived from resting fMRI for the patients (upper-tier) and the comparison participants (lower-tier), at two time points after TBI onset (left versus right tiers). Functional connectivity in the patients progressively renormalizes in conjunction with behavioral recovery after an initial phase of perturbation.