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Organization and hierarchy of the human functional brain network lead to a chain-like core

Mastrandrea, Rossana and Gabrielli, Andrea and Piras, Fabrizio and Spalletta, Gianfranco and Caldarelli, Guido and Gili, Tommaso Organization and hierarchy of the human functional brain network lead to a chain-like core. Scientific Reports, 7 (1). ISSN 2045-2322 (2017)

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Abstract

The brain is a paradigmatic example of a complex system: its functionality emerges as a global property of local mesoscopic and microscopic interactions. Complex network theory allows to elicit the functional architecture of the brain in terms of links (correlations) between nodes (grey matter regions) and to extract information out of the noise. Here we present the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data from forty healthy humans at rest for the investigation of the basal scaffold of the functional brain network organization. We show how brain regions tend to coordinate by forming ahighly hierarchical chain-like structure of homogeneously clustered anatomical areas. A maximum spanning tree approach revealed the centrality of the occipital cortex and the peculiar aggregation of cerebellar regions to form a closed core. We also report the hierarchy of network segregation and the level of clusters integration as a function of the connectivity strength between brain regions.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: 10.1038/s41598-017-04716-3
Uncontrolled Keywords: Complex networks; Network models
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HA Statistics
Q Science > QC Physics
R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Research Area: Economics and Institutional Change
Depositing User: Rossana Mastrandrea
Date Deposited: 03 Aug 2017 07:18
Last Modified: 03 Aug 2017 07:18
URI: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/3732

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