A cognitive state transformation model for task-general and task-specific subsystems of the brain connectome

The human brain flexibly controls different cognitive behaviors, such as memory and attention, to satisfy contextual demands. Much progress has been made to reveal task-induced modulations in the whole-brain functional connectome, but we still lack a way to model context-dependent changes. Here, we present a novel connectome-to-connectome (C2C) transformation framework that enables us to model the brain's functional reorganization from one connectome state to another in response to specific task goals. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Human Connectome Project, we demonstrate that the C2C model accurately generates an individual's task-related connectomes from their task-free (resting-state) connectome with a high degree of specificity across seven different cognitive states. Moreover, the C2C model amplifies behaviorally relevant individual differences in the task-free connectome, thereby improving behavioral predictions with increased power, achieving similar performance with just a third of the subjects needed when relying on resting-state data alone. Finally, the C2C model reveals how the brain reorganizes between cognitive states. Our observations support the existence of reliable state-specific subsystems in the brain and demonstrate that we can quantitatively model how the connectome reconfigures to different cognitive states, enabling more accurate predictions of behavior with fewer subjects.