Our brains produce unique patterns of activity. These patterns are so unique, we can use brain connectivity map to identify individuals as reliable as fingerprints.
Dimitri Van De Ville, a neuroscientist and leading researcher, writes in his paper that a person's functional brain connectivity profile can be used to identify them among many subjects.
Yale University researchers found this in 2015. Now, a team of scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne is studying how these patterns change over time in an effort to understand why brain activity patterns are unique and identifiable.
Researchers used information from functional magnetic resonance imaging scans (fMRI), which measure brain activity in 100 people at rest, to create colorful graphic summaries. This atlas included 419 points.
Enrico Amico, a neuroscientist, explained that these graphs contain all the information that we need.
The connectome is a map showing the location of the neural network. We are informed about the subjects' activities during an MRI scan. They also inform us if they are performing other tasks or resting. Based on the activity and brain parts used, our connectomes can change.
Functional brain connectome map. (Enrico Amico)
Researchers found that although longer time frames allowed for greater differentiation between individuals, it was only 1 minute and 40 seconds that was sufficient to collect enough data for reliable identification.
The scans did not identify the most identifiable moment. This could be due to the way our brains cycle their activity, as the team suspected.
Amico stated, "We discovered that the information required for a brain fingerprint's unfolding could be obtained over very brief time periods." An MRI that measures brain activity over five minutes is not necessary, Amico said. You could also use shorter time frames.
While shorter scans were able to pick up more sensory activity such as eye movements and vision, the more detailed information from cognitive functions was able to emerge over a longer period of time. These include language, awareness and working memory as well as social cognition. This suggests that different brain networks may be operating at different times.
Researchers write that this work opens up the possibility of linking functional brain fingerprints to the underlying structural structure. They note that the time scales of brain maps observed by the researchers seem to be consistent with behavioral and genetic gradients.
This signature of functionality is what defines us on a deeper level. It's only natural to wonder what conditions could cause it to fall apart. For example, could Alzheimer's disease deprive our brains their neurological fingerprint?
Amico says, "Based upon my initial findings it seems like the features that make a brain fingerprint distinct steadily disappear as disease progresses." It becomes harder to identify people by their connectomes. It's almost as if someone with Alzheimer's has lost their brain identity.
It's not yet clear if the selected points for the brain Atlas are reliable. Researchers suggest that comparing resting state maps to those created when people perform tasks or use different scanning techniques might reveal more.
Amico says, "This is just one step towards understanding the uniqueness of our brains." This insight could open up new avenues of opportunity.
Science Advances published this research.
