Reconciling abnormalities of brain network structure and function in schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia patients often show reduced structural connectivity.
• Despite this, increased functional connectivity is a common finding.
• Structure–function decoupling may arise from abnormal neurodevelopment of hubs.

Schizophrenia is widely regarded as a disorder of abnormal brain connectivity. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggests that patients show robust reductions of structural connectivity. However, corresponding changes in functional connectivity do not always follow, with increased functional connectivity being reported in many cases. Here, we consider different methodological and mechanistic accounts that might reconcile these apparently contradictory findings and argue that increased functional connectivity in schizophrenia likely represents a pathophysiological dysregulation of brain activity arising from abnormal neurodevelopmental wiring of structural connections linking putative hub regions of association cortex to other brain areas. Elucidating the pathophysiological significance of connectivity abnormalities in schizophrenia will be contingent on better understanding how network structure shapes and constrains function.