MIST: A multi-resolution parcellation of functional networks

Functional brain connectomics investigates functional connectivity between distinct brain parcels. There is an increasing interest to investigate connectivity across several levels of spatial resolution, from networks down to localized areas. Here we present the Multiresolution Intrinsic Segmentation Template (MIST), a multi-resolution parcellation of the cortical, subcortical and cerebellar gray matter. We provide annotated functional parcellations at nine resolutions from 7 to 444 functional parcels. The MIST parcellations compare well with prior work in terms of homogeneity and generalizability. We found that parcels at higher resolutions largely fell within the boundaries of larger parcels at lower resolutions. This allowed us to provide an overlap based pseudo-hierarchical decomposition tree that relates parcels across resolutions in a meaningful way. We provide an interactive web interface to explore the MIST parcellations and also made it accessible in the neuroimaging library nilearn. We believe that the MIST parcellation will facilitate future investigations of the multiresolution basis of brain function.