What does this part of the brain do?

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Simon Eickhoff; Professorin Dr. Sarah Genon, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 288968401

Despite decades of neuroimaging work striving to relate the topological organization of the brain to the available taxonomy of human behavior, the relationship between behavioral functions and the nervous system has remained elusive. Many studies have used fMRI to examine which brain region was activated for a particular behavioral task. In a lesser extent and systematic fashion, other studies have examined how behavioral variability across subjects or pathology relate to grey matter volume (GM) assuming that if a given brain region is engaged in a particular behavioral function, GM in that region should covary with performance or scores measured with a specific task or (clinical) questionnaire targeting this function. Moreover, it has to be acknowledged, that most likely no brain region may support a particular behavioral function on its own. Hence, identifying those phenotypes that may be predicted from structural and functional connectivity patterns of a region may provide another alternative to its functional characterization. However, these different concepts towards functional characterization have never been compared in order to examine how they converge or complement each other. Filling this gap by a systematic evaluation thus represents the key aim of this work. Implementing a large array of different approaches towards functional inference, applying them to a heterogeneous set of regions and comparing the ensuing characterizations will represent an important foundation for future brain mapping endeavors by providing an objective reference for how to answer the key question in systems neuroscience 'What does this part of the brain do?'

• DFG Programme: Research Grants