NCS-FO: Extracting Functional Cortical Network Dynamics at High Spatiotemporal Resolution

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This project is funded by Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NSF-NCS), a multidisciplinary program jointly supported by the Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). Neuroscientists have been remarkably successful in understanding the function of numerous brain regions by studying them in isolation and characterizing their individual roles in behavior. Growing evidence in recent years, however, suggests that sophisticated brain function emerges from the co-activation of multiple brain regions that exhibit networked activity. These networks organize rapidly in order to allow the brain to adapt to changes in the environment, resulting in robust behavior. Deciphering the neural mechanisms underlying these network dynamics is therefore crucial in understanding how the brain carries out cognitive processes such as attention, decision-making and learning. Recent technological advances in noninvasive neuroimaging have largely addressed the experimental challenges in studying these dynamic networks in humans and have provided abundant neural data under countless clinical and experimental conditions. However, the sheer high-dimensionality of these data together with the complexity of these networks has created various bottlenecks in data analysis, modeling, and statistical inference. In order to exploit the unique window of opportunity provided by the abundance of noninvasive neural data, this project is (1) developing a unified methodology for inferring the dynamics and statistical characteristics of these cortical networks, in a computationally efficient fashion, and (2) applying this methodology to magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from behaving human subjects to address several fundamental questions about auditory processing. This work brings new insight as to the dynamic organization of brain networks at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolutions, and can thereby affect technology in the areas of brain-computer interfacing and neuromorphic engineering. It also allows for the creation of engineering solutions for early detection and monitoring of cognitive disorders involving auditory perception and attention. The outcome of this project will be disseminated to the broader scientific community in the form of publicly accessible data analysis toolboxes accompanied with tutorials and webinars. The research plan is complemented by educational activities at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels, including workshops, undergraduate projects, and course development, with an emphasis on the involvement of women and underrepresented minorities.The existing paradigm for extracting cortical functional network dynamics faces challenges, including loss of temporal resolution due to the common sliding window processing, loss of spatial resolution due to the constraints of noninvasive recording, and statistical bias due to the heavy usage of linear estimation techniques given that network properties are intrinsically non-linear. This project provides a unified research plan for addressing these challenges, by combining high temporal resolution non-invasive recordings with high spatial resolution in a statistically robust way, using modern signal processing techniques. This methodology will specifically be applied to MEG data acquired from behaving human subjects, and will be used to decipher the neural mechanisms of adaptive auditory processing.