As neuroscience strives for generalizability and fairness, it is important to understand the diversity of the human brain across populations. To clarify how ethnic/race-related differences in the brain’s functional connectome arise without falling into biological essentialism, the team of Professors Tianyi Yan and Guoyuan Yang from Beijing Institute of Technology recently published a study. the study. Using multimodal behavioral data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), they built a multilayered framework to systematically uncover the driving mechanisms behind this population diversity.
Anatomy serves as a “baton” for function. Researchers found that ethnicity/race-related differences in brain functional topography and functional connectivity patterns follow a hierarchical sensorimotor association (SA) axis. More importantly, these functional variations are strictly limited by the physical anatomy of the brain, indicating that macroscale functional diversity is deeply rooted in the fundamental structural architecture of the brain.
Lifestyle acts as a bridge between population differences. Through structural equation modeling, the research team found that lifestyle factors, particularly education level and substance use, significantly influenced the association between ethnic/racial group and brain functional connectivity. These social experiences are “physically” incorporated into and reshaped the brain’s functional connectome, modulating top-down regulatory hubs such as the insular cortex, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex, among others.
Gene expression depicts the “underlying logic” at the microscale. Using the Allen Human Brain Atlas, the research team revealed that the spatial distribution of these functional variations was highly correlated with specific cortical gene expression patterns, enriched in synaptic signaling and nervous system development. Interestingly, these genes have minimal overlap with profiles driven by known genetic ancestry, suggesting that the observed macroscopic differences are primarily driven by postnatal environmental exposures rather than purely innate genetic determinism.
Toward a more just neuroscience. This study demonstrates that ethnic differences in brain function are not a unique biological fate. Instead, they are dynamic products that are based on anatomy, supported by genes, and heavily shaped by social environment. This framework can help future research avoid essentialist bias against marginalized groups and lay a solid theoretical foundation for developing truly equitable precision medicine.
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Science and Technology Review Publishing
Reference magazines:
DOI: 10.34133/research.1143. https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/research.1143
