For example, they could help predict who is at risk for developing a disease. Maybe there’s something in the individual patterns of strong and weak brain connections that reveals how susceptible someone is to different neurological or mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, depression or Alzheimer’s disease. If we collect fMRI images from people while they are still healthy, and then follow them over time to see who goes on to become ill, perhaps we can build a model relating parts of the connectivity profile to future health. Then we could apply this model to a brand-new person’s profile to predict their likelihood of getting sick. This could be a way to target and treat high-risk people early on, in hopes that intervening early will improve their outcomes.
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