Identification of Optimal and Most Significant Event Related Brain Functional Network

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2024:32:1906-1915. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2024.3399308. Epub 2024 May 17.

Abstract

Advancements in network science have facilitated the study of brain communication networks. Existing techniques for identifying event-related brain functional networks (BFNs) often result in fully connected networks. However, determining the optimal and most significant network representation for event-related BFNs is crucial for understanding complex brain networks. The presence of both false and genuine connections in the fully connected network requires network thresholding to eliminate false connections. However, a generalized framework for thresholding in network neuroscience is currently lacking. To address this, we propose four novel methods that leverage network properties, energy, and efficiency to select a generalized threshold level. This threshold serves as the basis for identifying the optimal and most significant event-related BFN. We validate our methods on an openly available emotion dataset and demonstrate their effectiveness in identifying multiple events. Our proposed approach can serve as a versatile thresholding technique to represent the fully connected network as an event-related BFN.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms*
  • Brain Mapping / methods
  • Brain* / physiology
  • Electroencephalography* / methods
  • Emotions* / physiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nerve Net* / physiology
  • Reproducibility of Results