Intrinsic cortical geometry is associated with individual differences in local functional organization

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Cerebral cortex geometry is known to constrain functional organization.
• The precise contribution of geometric properties to individual differences in cortical organization remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how cortical function varies with cortical geometry across individuals.
• To determine if geometric properties influence functional organization at local and global scales.

Main Methods:

• Functional organization was characterized using the first three gradients of functional connectivity.
• Individual cortical surfaces were projected into a shared embedding capturing intrinsic geometry.
• Localized spatial models (lattice Kriging) were fitted to test links between gradient variation and spatial location.

Main Results:

• Models captured a common spatial structure underlying local functional gradient transitions across individuals.
• Models did not capture interindividual differences in the global layout of functional gradients.
• This suggests universal geometric properties influence local functional transitions.

Conclusions:

• Universal geometric properties of the cerebral cortex shape functional transitions between stable systems.
• These geometric properties significantly contribute to subject-specific functional topography.
• Cortical geometry plays a key role in individual variations of brain function.