Relating cognition to both brain structure and function: A systematic review of methods

TL;DR

This systematic review examines how structural and functional neuroimaging data are integrated to understand brain substrates of cognition, highlighting current methods, gaps, and emerging approaches for combining these data types.

Contribution

First comprehensive review of methods for integrating structural and functional neuroimaging data in cognitive neuroscience research.

Findings

Most studies consider either structure or function, rarely both.

Only 32% of studies formally integrate structural and functional data.

Four emergent approaches: comparative, predictive, fusion, and complementary.

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience explores the mechanisms of cognition by studying its structural and functional brain correlates. Here, we report the first systematic review that assesses how information from structural and functional neuroimaging methods can be integrated to investigate the brain substrates of cognition. Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for studies of healthy young adult populations that collected cognitive data, and structural and functional neuroimaging data. Five percent of screened studies met all inclusion criteria. Next, 54% of included studies related cognitive performance to brain structure and function without quantitative analysis of the relationship. Finally, 32% of studies formally integrated structural and functional brain data. Overall, many studies consider either structural or functional neural correlates of cognition, and of those that consider both, they have rarely been integrated. We identified four emergent approaches to the characterisation of the relationship between brain structure, function and cognition; comparative, predictive, fusion and complementary. We discuss the insights provided each approach and how authors can select approaches to suit their research questions.