Functional corticostriatal connection topographies predict goal directed behaviour in humans

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human Brain Imaging
• Connectomics

Background:

• Corticostriatal connectivity in primates shows topographic organization, with nearby cortical and striatal areas interconnected.
• This organization is crucial for goal-directed behaviors, but human connectivity topographies and their relation to human-specific behaviors are not fully understood.
• Current methods using parcellations fail to capture the continuous nature of topography and overlapping projections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize human corticostriatal circuitry using a novel approach.
• To investigate the topographic organization of human corticostriatal connections and their relationship to behavior.
• To extend findings from primate tracing studies to humans.

Main Methods:

• Utilized resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans.
• Estimated smoothly-varying and spatially overlapping 'connection topographies' of corticostriatal circuitry.
• Compared estimated human topographies with established primate tracing data.

Main Results:

• Estimated human corticostriatal connection topographies closely matched and extended primate findings.
• Discovered preserved striatal topography in previously unrecognized areas of cortical connection.
• Demonstrated precise mapping of goal-directed behaviors onto individual variations in striatal connectivity spatial layout.

Conclusions:

• Resting-state fMRI can effectively reveal detailed topographic organization of human corticostriatal connections.
• Human corticostriatal topography is more extensive than previously thought and linked to behavior.
• This approach offers a more accurate model of corticostriatal circuitry than traditional parcellation methods.