Mapping brain-behavior networks using functional and structural connectome fingerprinting in the HCP dataset

Connectome analysis of the human brain's structural and functional architecture provides a unique opportunity to understand the organization of the brain's functional architecture. In previous studies, connectome fingerprinting using brain functional connectivity profiles as an individualized trait was able to predict an individual's neurocognitive performance from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) neurocognitive datasets.

In the present study, we extend connectome fingerprinting from functional connectivity (FC) to structural connectivity (SC), identifying multiple relationships between behavioral traits and brain connectivity. Higher-order neurocognitive tasks were found to have a weaker association with structural connectivity than its functional connectivity counterparts.

Neurocognitive tasks with a higher sensory footprint were, however, found to have a stronger association with structural connectivity than their functional connectivity counterparts. Language behavioral measurements had a particularly stronger correlation, especially between performance on the picture language test (Pic Vocab) and both FC (r = .28, p < .003) and SC (r = 0.27, p < .00077).

At the neural level, we found that the pattern of structural brain connectivity related to high-level language performance is consistent with the language white matter regions identified in presurgical mapping. We illustrate how this approach can be used to generalize the connectome fingerprinting framework to structural connectivity and how this can help understand the connections between cognitive behavior and the white matter connectome of the brain.