Introduction to the Human Connectome Project


Overview

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) is a collaboration between two major neuroimaging centers, the Laboratory of NeuroImaging at the University of South Californica, and the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. The main focus of the consortium is to collect structural and functional connectivity data - specifically, diffusion weighted imaging and resting-state data - to “construct a map of the complete structural and functional neural connections in vivo within and across individuals.” By using the latest scan acquisitions, the HCP aims to make high-quality imaging data available to all researchers.

In these tutorials, we will learn how to download data from the HCP website and analyze it using different software packages, such as MRtrix and the CONN toolbox. Along the way, you will learn about the file structure and file formats used by HCP, such as CIFTI. The researchers have also uploaded genetic and behavioral data which can also be used to test for correlations between connectivity and individual differences.

In this tutorial, we will download data directly from the HCP website and analyze it. Along the way, you will learn how to use tools developed by the HCP, such as the Connectome Workbench. By the end of the walkthrough, you will be able to download other HCP datasets and analyze them using standardized preprocessing pipelines, and create new analyses using the large batteries of individual difference measures available on the HCP website.

Walkthrough of the Human Connectome Project