Parcellating an Individual Subject's Cortical and Subcortical Brain Structures Using Snowball Sampling of Resting-State Correlations. (8th March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wig, Gagan S.; Laumann, Timothy O.; Cohen, Alexander L.; Power, Jonathan D.; Nelson, Steven M.; Glasser, Matthew F.; Miezin, Francis M.; Snyder, Abraham Z.; Schlaggar, Bradley L.; Petersen, Steven E.
• Is Part Of: Cerebral cortex. Volume 24:Number 8(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 2036
• Page End: 2054
• Publication Date: 2013-03-08
• Subjects: boundary mapping -- brain area parcellation -- brain networks -- individual differences -- resting-state functional correlations -- snowball sampling; Cerebral cortex -- Periodicals; Brain -- Periodicals; 612.825
• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht056
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1047-3211

Abstract

Abstract : We describe methods for parcellating an individual subject's cortical and subcortical brain structures using resting-state functional correlations (RSFCs). Inspired by approaches from social network analysis, we first describe the application of snowball sampling on RSFC data (RSFC-Snowballing) to identify the centers of cortical areas, subdivisions of subcortical nuclei, and the cerebellum. RSFC-Snowballing parcellation is then compared with parcellation derived from identifying locations where RSFC maps exhibit abrupt transitions (RSFC-Boundary Mapping). RSFC-Snowballing and RSFC-Boundary Mapping largely complement one another, but also provide unique parcellation information; together, the methods identify independent entities with distinct functional correlations across many cortical and subcortical locations in the brain. RSFC parcellation is relatively reliable within a subject scanned across multiple days, and while the locations of many area centers and boundaries appear to exhibit considerable overlap across subjects, there is also cross-subject variability—reinforcing the motivation to parcellate brains at the level of individuals. Finally, examination of a large meta-analysis of task-evoked functional magnetic resonance imaging data reveals that area centers defined by task-evoked activity exhibit correspondence with area centers defined by RSFC-Snowballing. This observation provides important evidence for the ability of RSFC to parcellate broad expanses of an individual's brain into functionally meaningful units.