Data-driven analysis of simultaneous EEG/fMRI using an ICA approach

Due to its millisecond-scale temporal resolution, EEG allows to assess neural correlates with precisely defined temporal relationship relative to a given event. This knowledge is generally lacking in data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which has a temporal resolution on the scale of seconds so that possibilities to combine the two modalities are sought. Previous applications combining event-related potentials (ERPs) with simultaneous fMRI BOLD generally aimed at measuring known ERP components in single trials and correlate the resulting time series with the fMRI BOLD signal. While it is a valuable first step, this procedure cannot guarantee that variability of the chosen ERP component is specific for the targeted neurophysiological process on the group and single subject level. Here we introduce a newly developed data-driven analysis procedure that automatically selects task-specific electrophysiological independent components (ICs). We used single-trial simultaneous EEG/fMRI analysis of a visual Go/Nogo task to assess inhibition-related EEG components, their trial-to-trial amplitude variability, and the relationship between this variability and the fMRI. Single-trial EEG/fMRI analysis within a subgroup of 22 participants revealed positive correlations of fMRI BOLD signal with EEG-derived regressors in fronto-striatal regions which were more pronounced in an early compared to a late phase of task execution. In sum, selecting Nogo-related ICs in an automated, single subject procedure reveals fMRI-BOLD responses correlated to different phases of task execution. Furthermore, to illustrate utility and generalizability of the method beyond detecting the presence or absence of reliable inhibitory components in the EEG, we show that the IC selection can be extended to other events in the same dataset, e.g., the visual responses

Reliability of information-based integration of EEG and fMRI data: a simulation study

Most studies involving simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data rely on the first-order, affine-linear correlation of EEG and fMRI features within the framework of the general linear model. An alternative is the use of information-based measures such as mutual information and entropy, which can also detect higher-order correlations present in the data. The estimate of information-theoretic quantities might be influenced by several parameters, such as the numerosity of the sample, the amount of correlation between variables, and the discretization (or binning) strategy of choice. While these issues have been investigated for invasive neurophysiological data and a number of bias-correction estimates have been developed, there has been no attempt to systematically examine the accuracy of information estimates for the multivariate distributions arising in the context of EEG-fMRI recordings. This is especially important given the differences between electrophysiological and EEG-fMRI recordings. In this study, we drew random samples from simulated bivariate and trivariate distributions, mimicking the statistical properties of EEG-fMRI data. We compared the estimated information shared by simulated random variables with its numerical value and found that the interaction between the binning strategy and the estimation method influences the accuracy of the estimate. Conditional on the simulation assumptions, we found that the equipopulated binning strategy yields the best and most consistent results across distributions and bias correction methods. We also found that within bias correction techniques, the asymptotically debiased (TPMC), the jackknife debiased (JD), and the best upper bound (BUB) approach give similar results, and those are consistent across distributions. </jats:p

Comparison of advanced analysis of fMRI data from oddball experiment

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá zpracováním a analýzou dat, získaných při experimentálním vyšetření pomocí funkční magnetické rezonance. Jedná se experimentální úkol typu oddball, jehož cílem je vyšetření kognitivních funkcí subjektu. V rámci práce jsou popsány principy funkční magnetické rezonance, možnosti tvorby experimentálních úkolů, zpracování naměřených dat, modelování odpovědi organismu a statistická analýza. Dále je proveden rozbor jednotlivých částí předzpracování a analýza s použitím reálných experimentálních dat. Klíčovou náplní práce je návrh a realizace modelu, umožňujícího pokročilou kategorizaci stimulů s ohledem na typ předchozího vzácného podnětu a počet častých podnětů v intervalu mezi nimi. Tento model svým podrobnějším členěním umožňuje hlubší studium cerebrálních procesů spojených s především s pozorností, pamětí, očekáváním nebo potřebou kognitivního uzavření. Druhým bodem práce je hodnocení modelů hemodynamické odezvy, které se uplatňují při statistické analýze dat z fMRI experimentu. V práci je provedeno porovnání bázových funkcí, tedy modelů hemodynamické odezvy na experimentální stimulaci, použitých pro obecný lineární model. Výsledkem je zhodnocení účinnosti detekce aktivovaných voxelů, míry falešné pozitivity a výpočetní i uživatelské náročnosti.This master´s thesis deals with processing and analysis of data, acquired from experimental examination performed with functional magnetic resonance imaging technique. It is an oddball type experimental task and its goal is an examination of cognitive functions of the subject. The principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging, possibilities of experimental design, processing of acquired data, modeling of a response of organism and statistical analysis are described in this work. Furthermore, particular parts of preprocessing and analysis are carried out using real data set from experiment. The main goal of this work is suggestion and realization of model, which enables advanced categorization of stimuli, considering the type of previous rare stimulus and the number of frequent stimuli within them. With its in-depth categorization, this model enables detail exploration of cerebral processes, associated mainly with attention, memory, expectancy or cognitive closure. The second point of that work is an evaluation of models of hemodynamic response, which are applied in statistical analysis of data from fMRI experiment. Comparison of basis functions, the models of hemodynamic response to experimental stimulation used for general linear model, is performed in this work. The result of this comparison is an evaluation of detection efficiency of activated voxels, false positivity rate and computational and user difficulty.

Biostatistical modeling and analysis of combined fMRI and EEG measurements

The purpose of brain mapping is to advance the understanding of the relationship between structure and function in the human brain. Several techniques---with different advantages and disadvantages---exist for recording neural activity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has a high spatial resolution, but low temporal resolution. It also suffers from a low-signal-to-noise ratio in event-related experimental designs, which are commonly used to investigate neuronal brain activity. On the other hand, the high temporal resolution of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings allows to capture provoked event-related potentials. Though, 3D maps derived by EEG source reconstruction methods have a low spatial resolution, they provide complementary information about the location of neuronal activity. There is a strong interest in combining data from both modalities to gain a deeper knowledge of brain functioning through advanced statistical modeling. In this thesis, a new Bayesian method is proposed for enhancing fMRI activation detection by the use of EEG-based spatial prior information in stimulus based experimental paradigms. This method builds upon a newly developed mere fMRI activation detection method. In general, activation detection corresponds to stimulus predictor components having an effect on the fMRI signal trajectory in a voxelwise linear model. We model and analyze stimulus influence by a spatial Bayesian variable selection scheme, and extend existing high-dimensional regression methods by incorporating prior information on binary selection indicators via a latent probit regression. For mere fMRI activation detection, the predictor consists of a spatially-varying intercept only. For EEG-enhanced schemes, an EEG effect is added, which is either chosen to be spatially-varying or constant. Spatially-varying effects are regularized by different Markov random field priors. Statistical inference in resulting high-dimensional hierarchical models becomes rather challenging from a modeling perspective as well as with regard to numerical issues. In this thesis, inference is based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach relying on global updates of effect maps. Additionally, a faster algorithm is developed based on single-site updates to circumvent the computationally intensive, high-dimensional, sparse Cholesky decompositions. The proposed algorithms are examined in both simulation studies and real-world applications. Performance is evaluated in terms of convergency properties, the ability to produce interpretable results, and the sensitivity and specificity of corresponding activation classification rules. The main question is whether the use of EEG information can increase the power of fMRI models to detect activated voxels. In summary, the new algorithms show a substantial increase in sensitivity compared to existing fMRI activation detection methods like classical SPM. Carefully selected EEG-prior information additionally increases sensitivity in activation regions that have been distorted by a low signal-to-noise ratio

Imaging functional and structural networks in the human epileptic brain

Epileptic activity in the brain arises from dysfunctional neuronal networks involving cortical and subcortical grey matter as well as their connections via white matter fibres. Physiological brain networks can be affected by the structural abnormalities causing the epileptic activity, or by the epileptic activity itself. A better knowledge of physiological and pathological brain networks in patients with epilepsy is critical for a better understanding the patterns of seizure generation, propagation and termination as well as the alteration of physiological brain networks by a chronic neurological disorder. Moreover, the identification of pathological and physiological networks in an individual subject is critical for the planning of epilepsy surgery aiming at resection or at least interruption of the epileptic network while sparing physiological networks which have potentially been remodelled by the disease. This work describes the combination of neuroimaging methods to study the functional epileptic networks in the brain, structural connectivity changes of the motor networks in patients with localisation-related or generalised epilepsy and finally structural connectivity of the epileptic network. The combination between EEG source imaging and simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings allowed to distinguish between regions of onset and propagation of interictal epileptic activity and to better map the epileptic network using the continuous activity of the epileptic source. These results are complemented by the first recordings of simultaneous intracranial EEG and fMRI in human. This whole-brain imaging technique revealed regional as well as distant haemodynamic changes related to very focal epileptic activity. The combination of fMRI and DTI tractography showed subtle changes in the structural connectivity of patients with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy, a form of idiopathic generalised epilepsy. Finally, a combination of intracranial EEG and tractography was used to explore the structural connectivity of epileptic networks. Clinical relevance, methodological issues and future perspectives are discussed