Abstract
Connectivity is a major organizing principle of the nervous system and conceptualizing the brain as a network represents a fundamental and innovative framework for understanding brain disorders. The healthy brain has developed an optimized connectivity that is characterized by high-efficiency information transfer between brain regions at low connection cost.
It is now accepted that higher cognitive functions are not a direct property localized to specific brain structures, but are the result of well-orchestrated interactions within the whole-brain network. The network concept is now at the forefront of research into various brain disorders, as it has the potential to give new insights into the understanding of neurological, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric disorders, which could not be explained by the traditional reductionist approach which dominated the 20th century.