Combining functional and anatomical connectivity reveals brain networks for auditory language comprehension

Dorothee Saur; Bjoern Schelter; Susanne Schnell; David Kratochvil; Hanna Kuepper; Philipp Kellmeyer; Dorothee Kuemmerer; Stefan Kloeppel; Volkmar Glauche; Ruediger Lange; Wolfgang Mader; David Feess; Jens Timmer; Cornelius Weiller

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

Combining functional and anatomical connectivity reveals brain networks for auditory language comprehension

Dorothee Saur, Bjoern Schelter, Susanne Schnell, David Kratochvil, Hanna Kuepper, Philipp Kellmeyer, Dorothee Kuemmerer, Stefan Kloeppel, Volkmar Glauche, Ruediger Lange, Wolfgang Mader, David Feess, Jens Timmer, Cornelius Weiller

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

209 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cognitive functions are organized in distributed, overlapping, and interacting brain networks. Investigation of those large-scale brain networks is a major task in neuroimaging research.

Here, we introduce a novel combination of functional and anatomical connectivity to study the network topology subserving a cognitive function of interest. (i) In a given network, direct interactions between network nodes are identified by analyzing functional MRI time series with the multivariate method of directed partial correlation (dPC). This method provides important improvements over shortcomings that are typical for ordinary (partial) correlation techniques. (ii) For directly interacting pairs of nodes, a region-to-region probabilistic fiber tracking on diffusion tensor imaging data is performed to identify the most probable anatomical white matter fiber tracts mediating the functional interactions. This combined approach is applied to the language domain to investigate the network topology of two levels of auditory comprehension: lower-level speech perception (i.e., phonological processing) and higher-level speech recognition (i.e., semantic processing).

For both processing levels, dPC analyses revealed the functional network topology and identified central network nodes by the number of direct interactions with other nodes. Tractography showed that these interactions are mediated by distinct ventral (via the extreme capsule) and dorsal (via the arcuate/superior longitudinal fascicle fiber system) long- and short-distance association tracts as well as commissural fibers. Our findings demonstrate how both processing routines are segregated in the brain on a large-scale network level. Combining dPC with probabilistic tractography is a promising approach to unveil how cognitive functions emerge through interaction of functionally interacting and anatomically interconnected brain regions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3187-3197
Number of pages	11
Journal	Neuroimage
Volume	49
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009
Publication status	Published - 15 Feb 2010

Keywords

fMRI
DTI
directed partial correlation
tactography
language networks

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10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

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Saur, D., Schelter, B., Schnell, S., Kratochvil, D., Kuepper, H., Kellmeyer, P., Kuemmerer, D., Kloeppel, S., Glauche, V., Lange, R., Mader, W., Feess, D., Timmer, J., & Weiller, C. (2010). Combining functional and anatomical connectivity reveals brain networks for auditory language comprehension. Neuroimage, 49(4), 3187-3197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

Saur, D, Schelter, B, Schnell, S, Kratochvil, D, Kuepper, H, Kellmeyer, P, Kuemmerer, D, Kloeppel, S, Glauche, V, Lange, R, Mader, W, Feess, D, Timmer, J & Weiller, C 2010, 'Combining functional and anatomical connectivity reveals brain networks for auditory language comprehension', Neuroimage, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 3187-3197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

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abstract = "Cognitive functions are organized in distributed, overlapping, and interacting brain networks. Investigation of those large-scale brain networks is a major task in neuroimaging research.Here, we introduce a novel combination of functional and anatomical connectivity to study the network topology subserving a cognitive function of interest. (i) In a given network, direct interactions between network nodes are identified by analyzing functional MRI time series with the multivariate method of directed partial correlation (dPC). This method provides important improvements over shortcomings that are typical for ordinary (partial) correlation techniques. (ii) For directly interacting pairs of nodes, a region-to-region probabilistic fiber tracking on diffusion tensor imaging data is performed to identify the most probable anatomical white matter fiber tracts mediating the functional interactions. This combined approach is applied to the language domain to investigate the network topology of two levels of auditory comprehension: lower-level speech perception (i.e., phonological processing) and higher-level speech recognition (i.e., semantic processing).For both processing levels, dPC analyses revealed the functional network topology and identified central network nodes by the number of direct interactions with other nodes. Tractography showed that these interactions are mediated by distinct ventral (via the extreme capsule) and dorsal (via the arcuate/superior longitudinal fascicle fiber system) long- and short-distance association tracts as well as commissural fibers. Our findings demonstrate how both processing routines are segregated in the brain on a large-scale network level. Combining dPC with probabilistic tractography is a promising approach to unveil how cognitive functions emerge through interaction of functionally interacting and anatomically interconnected brain regions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.",

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AU - Saur, Dorothee

AU - Schelter, Bjoern

AU - Schnell, Susanne

AU - Kratochvil, David

AU - Kuepper, Hanna

AU - Kellmeyer, Philipp

AU - Kuemmerer, Dorothee

AU - Kloeppel, Stefan

AU - Glauche, Volkmar

AU - Lange, Ruediger

AU - Mader, Wolfgang

AU - Feess, David

AU - Timmer, Jens

AU - Weiller, Cornelius

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N2 - Cognitive functions are organized in distributed, overlapping, and interacting brain networks. Investigation of those large-scale brain networks is a major task in neuroimaging research.Here, we introduce a novel combination of functional and anatomical connectivity to study the network topology subserving a cognitive function of interest. (i) In a given network, direct interactions between network nodes are identified by analyzing functional MRI time series with the multivariate method of directed partial correlation (dPC). This method provides important improvements over shortcomings that are typical for ordinary (partial) correlation techniques. (ii) For directly interacting pairs of nodes, a region-to-region probabilistic fiber tracking on diffusion tensor imaging data is performed to identify the most probable anatomical white matter fiber tracts mediating the functional interactions. This combined approach is applied to the language domain to investigate the network topology of two levels of auditory comprehension: lower-level speech perception (i.e., phonological processing) and higher-level speech recognition (i.e., semantic processing).For both processing levels, dPC analyses revealed the functional network topology and identified central network nodes by the number of direct interactions with other nodes. Tractography showed that these interactions are mediated by distinct ventral (via the extreme capsule) and dorsal (via the arcuate/superior longitudinal fascicle fiber system) long- and short-distance association tracts as well as commissural fibers. Our findings demonstrate how both processing routines are segregated in the brain on a large-scale network level. Combining dPC with probabilistic tractography is a promising approach to unveil how cognitive functions emerge through interaction of functionally interacting and anatomically interconnected brain regions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

AB - Cognitive functions are organized in distributed, overlapping, and interacting brain networks. Investigation of those large-scale brain networks is a major task in neuroimaging research.Here, we introduce a novel combination of functional and anatomical connectivity to study the network topology subserving a cognitive function of interest. (i) In a given network, direct interactions between network nodes are identified by analyzing functional MRI time series with the multivariate method of directed partial correlation (dPC). This method provides important improvements over shortcomings that are typical for ordinary (partial) correlation techniques. (ii) For directly interacting pairs of nodes, a region-to-region probabilistic fiber tracking on diffusion tensor imaging data is performed to identify the most probable anatomical white matter fiber tracts mediating the functional interactions. This combined approach is applied to the language domain to investigate the network topology of two levels of auditory comprehension: lower-level speech perception (i.e., phonological processing) and higher-level speech recognition (i.e., semantic processing).For both processing levels, dPC analyses revealed the functional network topology and identified central network nodes by the number of direct interactions with other nodes. Tractography showed that these interactions are mediated by distinct ventral (via the extreme capsule) and dorsal (via the arcuate/superior longitudinal fascicle fiber system) long- and short-distance association tracts as well as commissural fibers. Our findings demonstrate how both processing routines are segregated in the brain on a large-scale network level. Combining dPC with probabilistic tractography is a promising approach to unveil how cognitive functions emerge through interaction of functionally interacting and anatomically interconnected brain regions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

KW - fMRI

KW - DTI

KW - directed partial correlation

KW - tactography

KW - language networks

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.009

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SN - 1053-8119

VL - 49

SP - 3187

EP - 3197

JO - Neuroimage

JF - Neuroimage

IS - 4

ER -

Combining functional and anatomical connectivity reveals brain networks for auditory language comprehension

Abstract

Keywords

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