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Using an algorithm they call the Krakencoder, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine are a step closer to unraveling how the brain’s wiring supports the way we think and act. The study, published June 5 in Nature Methods, used imaging data from the Human Connectome Project to align neural activity with its underlying circuitry.

Mapping how the brain’s anatomical connections and activity patterns relate to behavior is crucial not only for understanding how the brain works generally but also for identifying biomarkers of disease, predicting outcomes in neurological disorders and designing personalized interventions.

Addressing the Elephant in the Room

The brain consists of a complex network of interconnected neurons whose collective activity drives our behavior. The structural connectome represents the physical wiring of the brain, the map of how different regions are anatomically connected. The other piece of the puzzle is the functional connectome, which represents patterns of neuronal activity between different parts of the brain, highlighting regions that activate together during specific tasks or at rest. Surprisingly, scientists have found that regions that are “wired together” don’t always “fire together.”