Module 26:
Comments on Connectivity
Brain Connectivity
• Functional Connectivity
– Undirected association between two or more fMRI time
series and/or performance and physiological variables.
– Makes statements about the structure of relationships
among brain regions.
• Effective Connectivity
– Directed influence of one brain region on the
physiological activity recorded in other brain regions.
– Makes statements about causal effects among tasks
and regions.
Functional Connectivity
• A goal of functional connectivity analysis is to
make inferences on the structure of relationships
among brain regions.
• We want to make statements like:
– “These regions form a network”
– “Regions are more connected during task A than B.”
Effective Connectivity
• A goal of effective connectivity analysis is to make
statements about causal effects among tasks and
regions.
• We want to make statements like:
– “Frontal cortex enhances connectivity between visual
areas and hippocampus.”
– “VMPFC inhibits the amygdala”
Effective Connectivity
• Effective connectivity is thought to provide more
powerful conclusions than functional connectivity,
but makes much stronger assumptions
• The validity of the conclusions depend strongly on
the assumptions being correct.
• The necessary assumptions are often poorly
specified and difficult to check, which is a major
shortcoming of the field.
Functional vs. Effective
• Ultimately, the distinction between functional and
effective connectivity is not entirely clear.
• If the discriminating features are:
(a) a directional model in which causal influences are
specified; and
(b) the willingness to make claims about direct vs.
indirect connections,
then many analyses, including multiple regression,
might count as effective connectivity.
Illustration
• Consider the following SEM.
a m" b
x" y"
c
m = im + ax + em
y = iy + bm + cx + ey
• Mediation analysis
Comments
• In the end, it is not the label of “functional” or
“effective” that is important, but the specific
assumptions, robustness and validity of inference
afforded by each method.
• More care needs to be taken in discussing these
concepts in connectivity studies.
• At the end of the day connectivity should be
discussed in terms of carefully defined estimands
of interest not on the applied estimation algorithm.
End of Module
@fMRIstats