Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Investigating Functional Cooperation in the
Human Brain Using Simple Graph-Theoretic
Methods
Michael L. Anderson, Joan Brumbaugh, and Aysu ¸ uben
Abstract
This chapter introduces a very simple analytic method for mining large
numbers of brain imaging experiments to discover functional cooperation between
regions. We then report some preliminary results of its application, illustrate some
of the many future projects in which we expect the technique will be of considerable
use (including a way to relate fMRI to EEG), and describe a research resource for in-
vestigating functional cooperation in the cortex that will be made publicly available
through the lab web site. One significant finding is that differences between cogni-
tive domains appear to be attributable more to differences in patterns of cooperation
between brain regions, rather than to differences in which brain regions are used in
each domain. This is not a result that is predicted by prevailing localization-based
and modular accounts of the organization of the cortex.
2.1 Introduction and Background
Hardly an issue of science or nature goes by without creating a stir over the dis-
covery of “the” gene for some disease, trait, or predisposition, or “the” brain area
responsible for some behavior or cognitive capacity. Of course, we know better; the
isolable parts of complex systems like the brain or the human genome do what they
do only in virtue of the cooperation of very many other parts, and often only by
operating within and taking advantage of specific environmental and developmental
