Brain organization into resting state networks emerges at criticality on a model of the human connectome

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that critical dynamics on the human connectome model explain the emergence of resting state networks and replicate key fMRI findings, linking brain structure and function.

Contribution

It reveals that criticality in brain dynamics on realistic structural networks accounts for resting state network formation and functional correlations.

Findings

Resting state networks emerge at criticality.

Critical dynamics reproduce fMRI correlation patterns.

Structural connectivity underpins functional brain activity.

Abstract

The relation between large-scale brain structure and function is an outstanding open problem in neuroscience. We approach this problem by studying the dynamical regime under which realistic spatio-temporal patterns of brain activity emerge from the empirically derived network of human brain neuroanatomical connections. The results show that critical dynamics unfolding on the structural connectivity of the human brain allow the recovery of many key experimental findings obtained with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), such as divergence of the correlation length, anomalous scaling of correlation fluctuations, and the emergence of large-scale resting state networks.