Connectome brain fingerprinting: terminology, measures, and target properties

TL;DR

This paper clarifies the terminology and criteria for brain-based fingerprinting in neuroscience, distinguishing genuine biometric identifiers from other similarity measures to improve consistency and communication across disciplines.

Contribution

It reviews current uses of the term 'fingerprint' in neuroscience, highlights mismatches with biometric standards, and offers guidelines to distinguish true biometric traits from other metrics.

Findings

Highlights mismatch between neuroscience metrics and biometric fingerprint definitions

Provides guidelines for identifying genuine biometric brain fingerprints

Aims to standardize terminology and improve cross-disciplinary communication

Abstract

Distinguishing one person from another (what biometricians call recognition) is extremely relevant for different aspects of life. Traditional biometric modalities (fingerprint, face, iris, voice) rely on unique, stable features that reliably differentiate individuals. Recently, the term fingerprinting has gained popularity in neuroscience, with a growing number of studies adopting the term to describe various brain based metrics derived from different techniques. However, we think there is a mismatch between its widely accepted meaning in the biometric community and some brain based metrics. Many of these measures do not satisfy the strict definition of a biometric fingerprint that is, a stable trait that uniquely identifies an individual. In this study we discuss some issues that may generate confusion in this context and suggest how to treat the question in the future. In particular, we review how fingerprint is currently used in the neuroscience literature, highlight mismatches with the biometric community definition, and offer clear guidelines for distinguishing genuine biometric fingerprints from exploratory similarity metrics. By clarifying terminology and criteria, we aim to align practices and facilitate communication across fields.