Patterns of connections reveal brain functions
For more than a decade, neuroscientists have known that many of the cells in a brain region called the fusiform gyrus specialize in recognizing faces. However, those cells don’t act alone: They need to communicate with several other parts of the brain. By tracing those connections, MIT neuroscientists have now shown that they can accurately predict which parts of the fusiform gyrus are face-selective.The study, which appeared in the Dec. 25 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, is the first to link a brain region’s connectivity with its function. No two people have the exact same fusiform gyrus structure, but using connectivity patterns, the researchers can now accurately predict which parts of an individual’s fusiform gyrus are involved in face recognition.This work goes a step beyond previous studies that have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to locate the regions that are involved in particular functions. “Rather than just mapping the...