Can a baby’s brain connectome act like a fingerprint?
In dHCP preterm infants, structural connectomes identified individuals ~62% of the time (mean self r=0.90), while functional connectomes rarely did (~10%).
Source
The developing brain structural and functional connectome fingerprint
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — dHCP preterm infants scanned twice (preterm + term-equivalent) for connectome fingerprinting
- N
- N=45 · 45 infants with usable structural connectomes; 31 with functional; 26 with both
- Population
- Preterm infants in the developing Human Connectome Project
- Outcome
- Within-subject vs between-subject connectome similarity / identifiability
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Inspect source passages
Can a baby’s brain connectome act like a fingerprint?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
Structural identifiability 28/45 (62.22%); mean self-similarity r=0.90.
The identifiability rate was 28/45 (62.22%)
Functional identifiability 3/31 (9.68%).
the identifiability rate for functional connectome similarity was 3/31 (9.68%).
What they did
Compared structural and functional connectomes from paired preterm and term-equivalent MRI scans in the developing Human Connectome Project, quantifying self-similarity, self-to-other similarity, and identifiability, plus effects of PMA and days between scans.
What they found
Structural mean self-similarity r=0.90 and identifiability 28/45 (62.22%); functional mean self-similarity r=0.56 and identifiability only 3/31 (9.68%). Older PMA at first scan correlated with higher structural self-similarity; more days between scans reduced functional self-similarity.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Does not prove functional networks lack individual meaning—only that early functional fingerprints are less stable/identifying across this interval than structural ones.
Key terms
- Connectome fingerprint
- Individual-specific connectivity pattern enabling identification across scans.
- Structural connectome
- White-matter connectivity matrix from diffusion MRI/tractography.
- Functional connectome
- Correlated BOLD activity matrix from fMRI.
- PMA
- Postmenstrual age at scanning.
- dHCP
- Developing Human Connectome Project neonatal MRI resource.
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Structural connectome identifiability was:
Common questions
Structural identifiability?
28/45 (62.22%).
Functional identifiability?
3/31 (9.68%).
Mean structural self r?
0.90.
Cohort?
dHCP preterm infants scanned twice.