‘Functional Fingerprint’ May Identify Brains Over a Lifetime

Like the unique pattern of a fingertip can identify a person for a lifetime, researchers are exploring if the same is possible for the human brain through functional fingerprinting.

“Functional fingerprinting”, a phrase coined by Damien Fair, associate professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University, is a method used to map the functional connectome, physical links between brain regions that are part of what distinguish humans cognitively from other species.

As Fair and his colleagues delve deeper into this study, they hope to discover heritable connections that might eventually help discern the parts of the brain and genes that increase a person’s risk of developing specific disorders as well as distinguish between the genetic and environmental forces that shape our neural circuitry.

Read full article from Quantam Magazine.