Brain Connectivity Studies on Structure-Function Relationships: A Short Survey with an Emphasis on Machine Learning

Figure 2

In fMRI, spatial-temporal activity maps of the human brain can be observed (A). On the contrary, DTI can be used to model white matter connections between different spatial brain regions (C). Next, a set of brain regions can be defined to act as nodes in a brain network (B). By quantifying the temporal coherence of activity fluctuations in a group of brain regions (B), the strength of functional connectivity (FC) is derived and can be arranged in a FC matrix (D). Analogous thereto, structural connectivity (SC) can be described by measuring the anatomical connection strength between those regions (B) and can be combined to a SC matrix (E). These two connection profiles can complement each other to give us a more comprehensive picture of brain connectivity (F).