Connectome-Based Attractor Dynamics Underlie Brain Activity in Rest, Task, and Disease

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Abstract

Understanding large-scale brain dynamics is a grand challenge in neuroscience. We propose functional connectome-based Hopfield Neural Networks (fcHNNs) as a model of macro-scale brain dynamics, arising from recurrent activity flow among brain regions. An fcHNN is neither optimized to mimic certain brain characteristics, nor trained to solve specific tasks; its weights are simply initialized with empirical functional connectivity values. In the fcHNN framework, brain dynamics are understood in relation to so-called attractor states, i.e. neurobiologically meaningful low-energy activity configurations. Analyses of 7 distinct datasets demonstrate that fcHNNs can accurately reconstruct and predict brain dynamics under a wide range of conditions, including resting and task states and brain disorders. By establishing a mechanistic link between connectivity and activity, fcHNNs offer a simple and interpretable computational alternative to conventional descriptive analyses of brain function. Being a generative framework, fcHNNs can yield mechanistic insights and hold potential to uncover novel treatment targets.

Key Points

  • We present a simple yet powerful phenomenological model for large-scale brain dynamics

  • The model uses a functional connectome-based Hopfield artificial neural network (fcHNN) architecture to compute recurrent “activity flow” through the network of brain regions

  • fcHNN attractor dynamics accurately reconstruct several characteristics of resting state brain dynamics

  • fcHNNs conceptualize both task-induced and pathological changes in brain activity as a non-linear alteration of these dynamics

  • Our approach is validated using large-scale neuroimaging data from seven studies

  • fcHNNs offers a simple and interpretable computational alternative to conventional descriptive analyses of brain function

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