No Arabic abstract
Multiple-subject network data are fast emerging in recent years, where a separate connectivity matrix is measured over a common set of nodes for each individual subject, along with subject covariates information. In this article, we propose a new generalized matrix response regression model, where the observed networks are treated as matrix-valued responses and the subject covariates as predictors. The new model characterizes the population-level connectivity pattern through a low-rank intercept matrix, and the effect of subject covariates through a sparse slope tensor. We develop an efficient alternating gradient descent algorithm for parameter estimation, and establish the non-asymptotic error bound for the actual estimator from the algorithm, which quantifies the interplay between the computational and statistical errors. We further show the strong consistency for graph community recovery, as well as the edge selection consistency. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method through simulations and two brain connectivity studies.
We propose a novel technique to assess functional brain connectivity in EEG/MEG signals. Our method, called Sparsely-Connected Sources Analysis (SCSA), can overcome the problem of volume conduction by modeling neural data innovatively with the following ingredients: (a) the EEG is assumed to be a linear mixture of correlated sources following a multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) model, (b) the demixing is estimated jointly with the source MVAR parameters, (c) overfitting is avoided by using the Group Lasso penalty. This approach allows to extract the appropriate level cross-talk between the extracted sources and in this manner we obtain a sparse data-driven model of functional connectivity. We demonstrate the usefulness of SCSA with simulated data, and compare to a number of existing algorithms with excellent results.
Time-varying networks are fast emerging in a wide range of scientific and business disciplines. Most existing dynamic network models are limited to a single-subject and discrete-time setting. In this article, we propose a mixed-effect multi-subject continuous-time stochastic blockmodel that characterizes the time-varying behavior of the network at the population level, meanwhile taking into account individual subject variability. We develop a multi-step optimization procedure for a constrained stochastic blockmodel estimation, and derive the asymptotic property of the estimator. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method through both simulations and an application to a study of brain development in youth.
The noninvasive procedures for neural connectivity are under questioning. Theoretical models sustain that the electromagnetic field registered at external sensors is elicited by currents at neural space. Nevertheless, what we observe at the sensor space is a superposition of projected fields, from the whole gray-matter. This is the reason for a major pitfall of noninvasive Electrophysiology methods: distorted reconstruction of neural activity and its connectivity or leakage. It has been proven that current methods produce incorrect connectomes. Somewhat related to the incorrect connectivity modelling, they disregard either Systems Theory and Bayesian Information Theory. We introduce a new formalism that attains for it, Hidden Gaussian Graphical State-Model (HIGGS). A neural Gaussian Graphical Model (GGM) hidden by the observation equation of Magneto-encephalographic (MEEG) signals. HIGGS is equivalent to a frequency domain Linear State Space Model (LSSM) but with sparse connectivity prior. The mathematical contribution here is the theory for high-dimensional and frequency-domain HIGGS solvers. We demonstrate that HIGGS can attenuate the leakage effect in the most critical case: the distortion EEG signal due to head volume conduction heterogeneities. Its application in EEG is illustrated with retrieved connectivity patterns from human Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). We provide for the first time confirmatory evidence for noninvasive procedures of neural connectivity: concurrent EEG and Electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings on monkey. Open source packages are freely available online, to reproduce the results presented in this paper and to analyze external MEEG databases.
We propose a statistical learning model for classifying cognitive processes based on distributed patterns of neural activation in the brain, acquired via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the proposed learning method, local meshes are formed around each voxel. The distance between voxels in the mesh is determined by using a functional neighbourhood concept. In order to define the functional neighbourhood, the similarities between the time series recorded for voxels are measured and functional connectivity matrices are constructed. Then, the local mesh for each voxel is formed by including the functionally closest neighbouring voxels in the mesh. The relationship between the voxels within a mesh is estimated by using a linear regression model. These relationship vectors, called Functional Connectivity aware Local Relational Features (FC-LRF) are then used to train a statistical learning machine. The proposed method was tested on a recognition memory experiment, including data pertaining to encoding and retrieval of words belonging to ten different semantic categories. Two popular classifiers, namely k-nearest neighbour (k-nn) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), are trained in order to predict the semantic category of the item being retrieved, based on activation patterns during encoding. The classification performance of the Functional Mesh Learning model, which range in 62%-71% is superior to the classical multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) methods, which range in 40%-48%, for ten semantic categories.
Anatomic connections between brain areas affect information flow between neuronal circuits and the synchronization of neuronal activity. However, such structural connectivity does not coincide with effective connectivity, related to the more elusive question Which areas cause the present activity of which others?. Effective connectivity is directed and depends flexibly on contexts and tasks. Here we show that a dynamic effective connectivity can emerge from transitions in the collective organization of coherent neural activity. Integrating simulation and semi-analytic approaches, we study mesoscale network motifs of interacting cortical areas, modeled as large random networks of spiking neurons or as simple rate units. Through a causal analysis of time-series of model neural activity, we show that different dynamical states generated by a same structural connectivity motif correspond to distinct effective connectivity motifs. Such effective motifs can display a dominant directionality, due to spontaneous symmetry breaking and effective entrainment between local brain rhythms, although all connections in the considered structural motifs are reciprocal [...] Finally, we analyze how the information encoded in spiking patterns of a local neuronal population is propagated across a fixed structural connectivity motif, demonstrating that changes in the active effective connectivity regulate both the efficiency and the directionality of information transfer [...] Going beyond these early proposals, we advance here that dynamic interactions between brain rhythms provide as well the basis for the self-organized control of this communication-through-coherence, making thus possible a fast on-demand reconfiguration of global information routing modalities.