Brain Graphs

by

Dr. Kadambari. K. V
Asst. Professor
Department of CSE
NIT Warangal

content
Neuroscience

Graph Theory
Brain Connectivity & Graph
Theoretical Analysis
Graph Types, Measures
Classification

Neuroscience
Neuroscience concerned with the
study of the structure and function of
the nervous system.
It
encompasses
computational,
behavioral
and
cognitive
neuroscience.
Uses methods drawn from computer
science and artificial intelligence.

Neuroscience in computer science

Computational Neuroscience
-To build artificial systems and mathematical models to explore the
computational principles underlying perception, cognition, memory and
motor behaviors

Machine learning

-To decode neural data

Neural Networks
-To understand how the brain learns and computes to achieve intelligent
behavior

Want to play a Game???

The Tower of Hanoi

Where maths meets psychology

Graph theory & Neuroscience

How they are related to each other???

Graph theory & Neuroscience

Graph theory: a language for networks

- framework for the mathematical

representation of complex networks.
The brain can be depicted as graphs

- nodes representing voxels and edges

representing structural or functional
connectivity among the voxels.

=> Graph Theory describes the topological

organization of brain connectivity.

Brain Graphs
- A way of modeling the human brain connections.
- Graph nodes represent neural elements, or brain regions,
edges represent connections between nodes.
- Brain graphs provide a relatively simple and increasingly
popular way of modeling the human brain connections.

Where can we apply brain Graphs!

To Shape brain anatomy complex network graph
To identify Physiological responses engaged in Neuron
- network interactions.
To design Sensory features within cerebral cortex
- distributed network
To shape Spatiotemporal profile of the neural activity
- intricate structural network
=> By causing bodily movement, brain networks can structure their own
inputs and modulate their internal dynamics.

Example of Brain Graphs

Brain Connectivity
The
human
brain
is
structurally and functionally
organized
into
complex
networks
allowing
the
segregation and integration
of information processing.

Types of Brain connectivity

Structural connectivity:
Represents structural associations among different

neuronal elements.
Functional connectivity:
Represents functional associations among brain regions.

From Neuroscience to Graph Theoretical Analysis

Brain

Anatomical
Parcellation

Recording Sites
Time Series
Data

Imaging Data

Functional
Network

Structural
Network

Graph Theoretical
Analysis

Brain Graphs
Brain
Graphs

Graph Theoretical Analysis

Investigate

the organizational principles of brain

connectivity.
Yields integrative and comprehensive descriptions of
the structural and functional organization of the
human brain, which provides important implications
for health and disease.
By modeling the brain as a complex network, graph
theoretical analysis provides an uncomplicated but
powerful mathematical framework for characterizing
topological properties of the brain connectivity.

Graph Measures

2
0

Clustering:

Clusters:
Network is organized into densely coupled neighborhoods.

Clustering coefficient:
Measure of local segregation.
The clustering coefficient of an individual node measures the
density of connections between the node's neighbors.
Only Densely interconnected neighbors form a cluster around
the node

Characteristic path length

It is the average minimum number of connections that link with

any two nodes of the network.
Quantifies global efficiency (in terms of inverse path length).
Quantifies the capability for parallel information propagation
of a Graph.

Illustration of Network Measures

Illustration of Network Measures

(a) Clustering coefficient of node 2 is the number of existing

connections (i.e., 36 and 67) among the nodes neighbors

divided by all of their possible connections (i.e. 13, 16, 17,
36, 37, and 67), which is 2/6 (i.e. 1/3).
(b) The characteristic path length between nodes 5 and 7 is 3.
(c) Modular structure. There are two modules in the graph in
which connections within modules are much denser than
between them.

Motifs
Motifs:
To aid in the analysis of connection patterns in
local neighborhoods, large networks or graphs can
be decomposed into smaller "building blocks" or
"networks-within-networks called motifs .
They form a basic structural alphabet of
elementary circuits.

Modularity
clusters are composed of modules of densely interconnected
nodes.
segregated as most edges link nodes within modules, and few
edges link nodes between modules.
The balance of the density of within-module and between
modules connections defines a measure of network
modularity.
Modularity measure must be maximum.

Path length and efficiency

Clustering reflects local network structure.
Path length reflects the level of global integration in the

brain connectivity.
Average shortest path yields global efficiency, which is the
inverse of the average shortest path.
The local efficiency of a particular node is the inverse of
the average shortest path connecting all neighbors of that
node.

Assortativity
If nodes with a high degree tend to be connected to other

nodes with a high degree, and nodes with a low degree to

other low degree nodes, the graph is said to be Assortative.
An assortative graph has a positive degree correlation.
In a disassortative graph, the degree correlation is negative,
and high degree nodes tend to connect to low degree nodes
and vice versa.

Example for adjacency matrix and degree

distribution

Example of Clustering and Modularity

Computational modeling of structural and functional

brain networks

GENERATIVE MODELS

Random Graphs
Composed of nodes with fairly uniform degree
Degree distribution defined by the mean degree.
Pairs of nodes are typically connected by short paths.
Nodes that are directly connected maintain
uncorrelated patterns of connections.
Random Graphs have short characteristic path lengths
Low levels of clustering.

Regular lattice graph

Each node is connected to k neighbors, k/2 in the clockwise direction, and
k/2 counter clockwise. This is an ordered, lattice-like graph.
Ordered pattern of connections between nodes.
Have connections that are "locally dense."
Connected nodes tend to have the same neighbors, but distances between
nodes vary greatly, with some shortest paths traversing a large number of
intermediate nodes.
Regular graphs have much higher clustering.
Longer characteristic path lengths.

Small-world network
With a probability p, edges are disconnected and attached

to a randomly chosen other vertex.

For p = 1 all edges are reconnected- random network.
For p = 0, Longer characteristic path lengths ordered
graph.
For 0< p <1, with only a small fraction of rewired edges,
the path length drops to very low values, while the
clustering coefficient still maintains its original high values.
This type of network, that combines high clustering with
short path lengths, is called a small-world network.

Example of distance matrix and Small-world index

Scale-free networks

Model of a growing network.

At each iteration, a new vertex is added,

connected to existing vertices with a probability

that depends upon the degree of that node.
Nodes with a high degree receive more
connections.
Example of positive feedback or preferential
attachment.
Feature: shape of its degree distribution.
After a sufficient number of iterations the
degree distribution becomes a power law: P(k)
= k*gamma, where gamma = 3. This power law
distribution reflects the presence of large
number of highly connected nodes or hubs.
Networks with a power law degree distribution
are referred to as scale-free (SF).

Power law
Implies that the probability of finding a node with a degree

that is twice as large as an arbitrary number decreases by

a constant factor.
This relationship holds over the entire distribution

Power law: Example

Complex Network
Classification

Scheme for predictive modeling with brain graphs

Thank you