<< Diverse human cognitive abilities are rooted in brain structural connectivity which has weights spanning several orders of magnitude. However, due to false-positive challenges in tractography, weak connectivity has been often treated as noise and ignored - despite its prevalence across mammalian brains. >>
Here AA show << that weak connectivity significantly predicts human cognitive abilities and supports brain functions through amplification of its small weight in a nonlinear manner. >>
AA found that << weak connectivity involves high individual variability and significantly predicts general cognitive ability and memory in individuals, and it is also critical for whole-brain dynamic simulation and structure-function coupling. Importantly, fusing two post-tractography filtering methods of streamlines potentially results in more reliable connectivity that preserves weak links and outperforms conventional thresholding in predicting cognitive abilities and functional connectivity. >>
<< At the network level, weak connectivity expands the operational capacity of brain networks to enhance both global integration and fine-grained segregation, thereby supporting a functional balance essential for cognitive abilities. >>
<< Finally, (AA) identified a specific type of weak connectivity mainly linking visual/motor to limbic areas with negative gene co-expression, which has a disproportionately large impact on cognitive predictions and network dynamics. >>
Rong Wang, Zhao Chang, et al. Weak but influential: Nonlinear contributions of structural connectivity to human cognitive abilities and brain functions. arXiv: 2505.24125v1 [q-bio.NC]. May 30, 2025.
Also: brain, network, weak, noise, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html
Keywords: gst, brain, network, noise, weakness, weak connectivity, brain structural connectivity, tractography, multiple tractography algorithms, cognitive ability and memory, individual variability, global integration, fine-grained segregation, limbic areas.
