Brain Functional Networks Involved in Finger Movement

This study used the complex network analysis to examine the brain functional network involved in finger movements. We found that (a) long-range connections decreased exponentially as distance between nodes increased, whereas short-range connections increased linearly with distance; (b) the distribution of functional connections was scale-free; (c) the typical path lengths were relatively short and comparable to those calculated for equivalent random networks, but the clustering coefficients were several orders of magnitude larger than those of equivalent random networks; and (d) central nodes were located in brain regions identified in previous cognitive neuroscience studies. These results suggest that the method of complex network analysis can be an important tool in future research in cognitive neuroscience.