Revell, Andrew Y.; Alexander B. Silva; T. Campbell Arnold; Joel M. Stein; Sandhitsu R. Das; Russell T. Shinohara; Danielle S. Bassett; Brian Litt and Kathryn A. Davis
Understanding the relationship between the brain’s structural anatomy and neural activity is essential in identifying the structural therapeutic targets linked to the functional changes seen in neurological diseases. An implicit challenge is that the varying maps of the brain, or atlases, used across the neuroscience literature to describe the different regions of the brain alters the hypotheses and predictions we make about the brain’s function of those regions. Here we demonstrate how parcellation scale, shape, and anatomical coverage of these atlases impact network topology, structure-function correlation (SFC), and the hypotheses we make about epilepsy disease biology. Through the lens of our disease system, we propose a general framework to evaluate the validity of an atlas used in an experimental system. This framework aims to maximize the descriptive, explanatory, and predictive validity of these atlases. Broadly, our framework strives to augment neuroscience research utilizing the various atlases published over the last century.