Normalizing the brain connectome for communication through synchronization

Networks in neuroscience determine how brain function unfolds, and their perturbations lead to psychiatric disorders and brain disease. Brain networks are characterized by their connectomes, which comprise the totality of all connections, and are commonly described by graph theory. This approach is deeply rooted in a particle view of information processing, based on the quantification of informational bits such as firing rates. Oscillations and brain rhythms demand, however, a wave perspective of information processing based on synchronization. We extend traditional graph theory to a dual, particle-wave, perspective, integrate time delays due to finite transmission speeds, and derive a normalization of the connectome. When applied to the database of the Human Connectome Project, it explains the emergence of frequency-specific network cores including the visual and default mode networks. These findings are robust across human subjects (N = 100) and are a fundamental network property within the wave picture. The normalized connectome comprises the particle view in the limit of infinite transmission speeds and opens the applicability of graph theory to a wide range of novel network phenomena, including physiological and pathological brain rhythms. These two perspectives are orthogonal, but not incommensurable, when understood within the novel, here-proposed, generalized framework of structural connectivity. AUTHOR SUMMARY All networks are composed of nodes and links, forming the structural frame, in which communication occurs. We demonstrate that graph theoretical tools make the implicit assumption of information transmission via exchange of bits, suggesting that the stronger connected nodes have greater impact upon the remainder of the network. This corollary does not extend to communication via oscillations, which is the prominent information carrier in brain networks. We extend traditional network analysis to the oscillatory domain and derive a novel network normalization complete with descriptive metrics. Along the prototypical example of the brain as a network, we illustrate the consequences of this novel approach and demonstrate that the normalization robustly explains the emergence of the prominent frequency-specific network cores, which cannot be understood within the traditional framework.

Automated summary

This study extends traditional graph theory to the domain of oscillations and proposes a novel network normalization method. By analyzing the Human Connectome Project database, it explains the emergence of frequency-specific network cores. These findings are robust across human subjects and provide a new perspective for neuroscience research.