Further insights into the interareal connectivity of a cortical network

TL;DR

This paper analyzes detailed macaque cortex connectivity data, revealing correlations with cortical hierarchy, community structures, and properties of reciprocal connections to deepen understanding of brain network organization.

Contribution

It introduces new insights into interareal connectivity, including correlation patterns, community structures, and reciprocal connection properties in the macaque cortex.

Findings

Connection weights correlate with cortical hierarchy.

Major communication pathways identified through link-community structure.

Reciprocal connections share similar network properties.

Abstract

Over the past years, network science has proven invaluable as a means to better understand many of the processes taking place in the brain. Recently, interareal connectivity data of the macaque cortex was made available with great richness of detail. We explore new aspects of this dataset, such as a correlation between connection weights and cortical hierarchy. We also look at the link-community structure that emerges from the data to uncover the major communication pathways in the network, and moreover investigate its reciprocal connections, showing that they share similar properties.