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Bu J, Ren N, Wang Y, Wei R, Zhang R, Zhu H. Identification of abnormal closed-loop pathways in patients with MRI-negative pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Brain Imaging Behav 2024; 18:892-901. [PMID: 38592332 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-024-00880-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Epilepsy is a disorder of brain networks, that is usually combined with cognitive and emotional impairment. However, most of the current research on closed-loop pathways in epilepsy is limited to the neuronal level or has focused only on known closed-loop pathways, and studies on abnormalities in closed-loop pathways in epilepsy at the whole-brain network level are lacking. A total of 26 patients with magnetic resonance imaging-negative pharmacoresistant epilepsy (MRIneg-PRE) and 26 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Causal brain networks and temporal-lag brain networks were constructed from resting-state functional MRI data, and the Johnson algorithm was used to identify stable closed-loop pathways. Abnormal closed-loop pathways in the MRIneg-PRE cohort compared with the HC group were identified, and the associations of these pathways with indicators of cognitive and emotional impairments were examined via Pearson correlation analysis. The results revealed that the abnormal stable closed-loop pathways were distributed across the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes and included altered functional connectivity values both within and between cerebral hemispheres. Four abnormal closed-loop pathways in the occipital lobe were associated with emotional and cognitive impairments. These abnormal pathways may serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis and guidance of individualized treatments for MRIneg-PRE patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinxin Bu
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China
| | - Nanxiao Ren
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China
| | - Yonglu Wang
- Child Mental Health Research Center, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China
| | - Ran Wei
- Division of Child Care, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, No. 26 Daoqian Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215002, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China.
| | - Haitao Zhu
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210029, China.
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Li WX, Lin QH, Zhang CY, Han Y, Calhoun VD. A new transfer entropy method for measuring directed connectivity from complex-valued fMRI data. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1423014. [PMID: 39050665 PMCID: PMC11266018 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1423014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Inferring directional connectivity of brain regions from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data has been shown to provide additional insights into predicting mental disorders such as schizophrenia. However, existing research has focused on the magnitude data from complex-valued fMRI data without considering the informative phase data, thus ignoring potentially important information. Methods We propose a new complex-valued transfer entropy (CTE) method to measure causal links among brain regions in complex-valued fMRI data. We use the transfer entropy to model a general non-linear magnitude-magnitude and phase-phase directed connectivity and utilize partial transfer entropy to measure the complementary phase and magnitude effects on magnitude-phase and phase-magnitude causality. We also define the significance of the causality based on a statistical test and the shuffling strategy of the two complex-valued signals. Results Simulated results verified higher accuracy of CTE than four causal analysis methods, including a simplified complex-valued approach and three real-valued approaches. Using experimental fMRI data from schizophrenia and controls, CTE yields results consistent with previous findings but with more significant group differences. The proposed method detects new directed connectivity related to the right frontal parietal regions and achieves 10.2-20.9% higher SVM classification accuracy when inferring directed connectivity using anatomical automatic labeling (AAL) regions as features. Conclusion The proposed CTE provides a new general method for fully detecting highly predictive directed connectivity from complex-valued fMRI data, with magnitude-only fMRI data as a specific case.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Xing Li
- School of Information and Communication Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Qiu-Hua Lin
- School of Information and Communication Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Chao-Ying Zhang
- School of Information and Communication Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Yue Han
- School of Information and Communication Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Vince D. Calhoun
- Tri-Institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
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3
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Moazeni O, Northoff G, Batouli SAH. The subcortical brain regions influence the cortical areas during resting-state: an fMRI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1363125. [PMID: 39055533 PMCID: PMC11271203 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1363125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Numerous modes or patterns of neural activity can be seen in the brain of individuals during the resting state. However, those functions do not persist long, and they are continuously altering in the brain. We have hypothesized that the brain activations during the resting state should themselves be responsible for this alteration of the activities. Methods Using the resting-state fMRI data of 63 healthy young individuals, we estimated the causality effects of each resting-state activation map on all other networks. The resting-state networks were identified, their causality effects on the other components were extracted, the networks with the top 20% of the causality were chosen, and the networks which were under the influence of those causal networks were also identified. Results Our results showed that the influence of each activation component over other components is different. The brain areas which showed the highest causality coefficients were subcortical regions, such as the brain stem, thalamus, and amygdala. On the other hand, nearly all the areas which were mostly under the causal effects were cortical regions. Discussion In summary, our results suggest that subcortical brain areas exert a higher influence on cortical regions during the resting state, which could help in a better understanding the dynamic nature of brain functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omid Moazeni
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Georg Northoff
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- BrainEE Research Group, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Marrelec G, Giron A. Multilevel testing of constraints induced by structural equation modeling in fMRI effective connectivity analysis: A proof of concept. Magn Reson Imaging 2024; 109:294-303. [PMID: 38280493 DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2024.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 01/20/2024] [Accepted: 01/20/2024] [Indexed: 01/29/2024]
Abstract
In functional MRI (fMRI), effective connectivity analysis aims at inferring the causal influences that brain regions exert on one another. A common method for this type of analysis is structural equation modeling (SEM). We here propose a novel method to test the validity of a given model of structural equation. Given a structural model in the form of a directed graph, the method extracts the set of all constraints of conditional independence induced by the absence of links between pairs of regions in the model and tests for their validity in a Bayesian framework, either individually (constraint by constraint), jointly (e.g., by gathering all constraints associated with a given missing link), or globally (i.e., all constraints associated with the structural model). This approach has two main advantages. First, it only tests what is testable from observational data and does allow for false causal interpretation. Second, it makes it possible to test each constraint (or group of constraints) separately and, therefore, quantify in what measure each constraint (or, e..g., missing link) is respected in the data. We validate our approach using a simulation study and illustrate its potential benefits through the reanalysis of published data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Marrelec
- Laboratoire d'imagerie biomédicale, LIB, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, F-75006 Paris, France.
| | - Alain Giron
- Laboratoire d'imagerie biomédicale, LIB, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, F-75006 Paris, France
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Wu H, Shi W, Wang MD. Developing a novel causal inference algorithm for personalized biomedical causal graph learning using meta machine learning. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2024; 24:137. [PMID: 38802809 PMCID: PMC11129385 DOI: 10.1186/s12911-024-02510-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Modeling causality through graphs, referred to as causal graph learning, offers an appropriate description of the dynamics of causality. The majority of current machine learning models in clinical decision support systems only predict associations between variables, whereas causal graph learning models causality dynamics through graphs. However, building personalized causal graphs for each individual is challenging due to the limited amount of data available for each patient. METHOD In this study, we present a new algorithmic framework using meta-learning for learning personalized causal graphs in biomedicine. Our framework extracts common patterns from multiple patient graphs and applies this information to develop individualized graphs. In multi-task causal graph learning, the proposed optimized initial guess of shared commonality enables the rapid adoption of knowledge to new tasks for efficient causal graph learning. RESULTS Experiments on one real-world biomedical causal graph learning benchmark data and four synthetic benchmarks show that our algorithm outperformed the baseline methods. Our algorithm can better understand the underlying patterns in the data, leading to more accurate predictions of the causal graph. Specifically, we reduce the structural hamming distance by 50-75%, indicating an improvement in graph prediction accuracy. Additionally, the false discovery rate is decreased by 20-30%, demonstrating that our algorithm made fewer incorrect predictions compared to the baseline algorithms. CONCLUSION To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of meta-learning in personalized causal graph learning and cause inference modeling for biomedicine. In addition, the proposed algorithm can also be generalized to transnational research areas where integrated analysis is necessary for various distributions of datasets, including different clinical institutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Wu
- Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
| | - Wenqi Shi
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
| | - May D Wang
- Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta, USA.
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Greaves MD, Novelli L, Razi A. Structurally informed resting-state effective connectivity recapitulates cortical hierarchy. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.03.587831. [PMID: 38617335 PMCID: PMC11014588 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.03.587831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Interregional brain communication is mediated by the brain's physical wiring (i.e., structural connectivity). Yet, it remains unclear whether models describing directed, functional interactions between latent neuronal populations-effective connectivity-benefit from incorporating macroscale structural connectivity. Here, we assess a hierarchical empirical Bayes method: structural connectivity-based priors constrain the inversion of group-level resting-state effective connectivity, using subject-level posteriors as input; subsequently, group-level posteriors serve as empirical priors for re-evaluating subject-level effective connectivity. This approach permits knowledge of the brain's structure to inform inference of (multilevel) effective connectivity. In 17 resting-state brain networks, we find that a positive, monotonic relationship between structural connectivity and the prior probability of group-level effective connectivity generalizes across sessions and samples. Providing further validation, we show that inter-network differences in the coupling between structural and effective connectivity recapitulate a well-known unimodal-transmodal hierarchy. Thus, our results provide support for the use of our method over structurally uninformed alternatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew D. Greaves
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
| | - Leonardo Novelli
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
| | - Adeel Razi
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
- CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program, CIFAR, Toronto, M5G 1M1, Canada
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Perret M, Neige C, Brunelin J, Mondino M. Unraveling the brain mechanisms of source monitoring with non-invasive brain stimulation: A systematic review. Int J Clin Health Psychol 2024; 24:100449. [PMID: 38406179 PMCID: PMC10884508 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Background/Objective Source monitoring refers to the ability to determine the source of memories and encompasses three subprocesses: internal source monitoring, reality monitoring, and external source monitoring. Neuroimaging studies provide valuable insights about neural correlates of source monitoring, but the causal relationship between brain and behavior is lacking. This study aimed to identify brain circuits involved in source monitoring by synthesizing the effects of brain stimulation on source monitoring as a function of the targeted brain regions or circuits. Method We conducted a systematic review of interventional studies that have examined the effects of brain stimulation on source monitoring across six databases. The principal outcome was the difference of source monitoring performance between active and control stimulation conditions. Results 23 studies (920 healthy participants and 54 patients with schizophrenia) were included. Our findings revealed the involvement of i) the lateral prefrontal and temporoparietal cortices in internal source monitoring, ii) the medial prefrontal and temporoparietal cortices in reality monitoring, and iii) the precuneus and the left angular gyrus in external source monitoring. Conclusions These findings deepen our understanding of the brain mechanisms of source monitoring and highlight specific stimulation targets to alleviate source monitoring deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mélanie Perret
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, PSYR2, F-69500 Bron, France
- Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 Boulevard Pinel, F-69500 Bron, France
| | - Cécilia Neige
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, PSYR2, F-69500 Bron, France
- Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 Boulevard Pinel, F-69500 Bron, France
| | - Jerome Brunelin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, PSYR2, F-69500 Bron, France
- Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 Boulevard Pinel, F-69500 Bron, France
| | - Marine Mondino
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, PSYR2, F-69500 Bron, France
- Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 Boulevard Pinel, F-69500 Bron, France
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8
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Mellema CJ, Nguyen KP, Treacher A, Andrade AX, Pouratian N, Sharma VD, O'Suileabhain P, Montillo AA. Longitudinal prognosis of Parkinson's outcomes using causal connectivity. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 42:103571. [PMID: 38471435 PMCID: PMC10944096 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Despite the prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD), there are no clinically-accepted neuroimaging biomarkers to predict the trajectory of motor or cognitive decline or differentiate Parkinson's disease from atypical progressive parkinsonian diseases. Since abnormal connectivity in the motor circuit and basal ganglia have been previously shown as early markers of neurodegeneration, we hypothesize that patterns of interregional connectivity could be useful to form patient-specific predictive models of disease state and of PD progression. We use fMRI data from subjects with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), idiopathic PD, and healthy controls to construct predictive models for motor and cognitive decline and differentiate between the four subgroups. Further, we identify the specific connections most informative for progression and diagnosis. When predicting the one-year progression in the MDS-UPDRS-III1* and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA), we achieve new state-of-the-art mean absolute error performance. Additionally, the balanced accuracy we achieve in the diagnosis of PD, MSA, PSP, versus healthy controls surpasses that attained in most clinics, underscoring the relevance of the brain connectivity features. Our models reveal the connectivity between deep nuclei, motor regions, and the thalamus as the most important for prediction. Collectively these results demonstrate the potential of fMRI connectivity as a prognostic biomarker for PD and increase our understanding of this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cooper J Mellema
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, United States; Biomedical Engineering Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Kevin P Nguyen
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, United States; Biomedical Engineering Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Alex Treacher
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, United States; Biophysics Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Aixa X Andrade
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, United States; Biomedical Engineering Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Neurosurgery Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Vibhash D Sharma
- Neurology Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Padraig O'Suileabhain
- Neurology Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
| | - Albert A Montillo
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, United States; Biomedical Engineering Department, United States; Advanced Imaging Research Center, United States; Radiology Department, United States; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States.
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9
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Ross LN, Bassett DS. Causation in neuroscience: keeping mechanism meaningful. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:81-90. [PMID: 38212413 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00778-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
A fundamental goal of research in neuroscience is to uncover the causal structure of the brain. This focus on causation makes sense, because causal information can provide explanations of brain function and identify reliable targets with which to understand cognitive function and prevent or change neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders. In this research, one of the most frequently used causal concepts is 'mechanism' - this is seen in the literature and language of the field, in grant and funding inquiries that specify what research is supported, and in journal guidelines on which contributions are considered for publication. In these contexts, mechanisms are commonly tied to expressions of the main aims of the field and cited as the 'fundamental', 'foundational' and/or 'basic' unit for understanding the brain. Despite its common usage and perceived importance, mechanism is used in different ways that are rarely distinguished. Given that this concept is defined in different ways throughout the field - and that there is often no clarification of which definition is intended - there remains a marked ambiguity about the fundamental goals, orientation and principles of the field. Here we provide an overview of causation and mechanism from the perspectives of neuroscience and philosophy of science, in order to address these challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren N Ross
- Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
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10
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Mellema CJ, Montillo AA. Novel machine learning approaches for improving the reproducibility and reliability of functional and effective connectivity from functional MRI. J Neural Eng 2023; 20:066023. [PMID: 37963396 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad0c5f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Objective.New measures of human brain connectivity are needed to address gaps in the existing measures and facilitate the study of brain function, cognitive capacity, and identify early markers of human disease. Traditional approaches to measure functional connectivity (FC) between pairs of brain regions in functional MRI, such as correlation and partial correlation, fail to capture nonlinear aspects in the regional associations. We propose a new machine learning based measure of FC (ML.FC) which efficiently captures linear and nonlinear aspects.Approach.To capture directed information flow between brain regions, effective connectivity (EC) metrics, including dynamic causal modeling and structural equation modeling have been used. However, these methods are impractical to compute across the many regions of the whole brain. Therefore, we propose two new EC measures. The first, a machine learning based measure of effective connectivity (ML.EC), measures nonlinear aspects across the entire brain. The second, Structurally Projected Granger Causality (SP.GC) adapts Granger Causal connectivity to efficiently characterize and regularize the whole brain EC connectome to respect underlying biological structural connectivity. The proposed measures are compared to traditional measures in terms ofreproducibilityand theability to predict individual traitsin order to demonstrate these measures' internal validity. We use four repeat scans of the same individuals from the Human Connectome Project and measure the ability of the measures to predict individual subject physiologic and cognitive traits.Main results.The proposed new FC measure ofML.FCattains high reproducibility (mean intra-subjectR2of 0.44), while the proposed EC measure ofSP.GCattains the highest predictive power (meanR2across prediction tasks of 0.66).Significance.The proposed methods are highly suitable for achieving high reproducibility and predictiveness and demonstrate their strong potential for future neuroimaging studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cooper J Mellema
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, United States of America
| | - Albert A Montillo
- Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- Advanced Imaging Research Center, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- Radiology Department, Dallas, TX, United States of America
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390, United States of America
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11
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Li Z, Athwal D, Lee HL, Sah P, Opazo P, Chuang KH. Locating causal hubs of memory consolidation in spontaneous brain network in male mice. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5399. [PMID: 37669938 PMCID: PMC10480429 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41024-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Memory consolidation after learning involves spontaneous, brain-wide network reorganization during rest and sleep, but how this is achieved is still poorly understood. Current theory suggests that the hippocampus is pivotal for this reshaping of connectivity. Using fMRI in male mice, we identify that a different set of spontaneous networks and their hubs are instrumental in consolidating memory during post-learning rest. We found that two types of spatial memory training invoke distinct functional connections, but that a network of the sensory cortex and subcortical areas is common for both tasks. Furthermore, learning increased brain-wide network integration, with the prefrontal, striatal and thalamic areas being influential for this network-level reconfiguration. Chemogenetic suppression of each hub identified after learning resulted in retrograde amnesia, confirming the behavioral significance. These results demonstrate the causal and functional roles of resting-state network hubs in memory consolidation and suggest that a distributed network beyond the hippocampus subserves this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zengmin Li
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Dilsher Athwal
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Hsu-Lei Lee
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Pankaj Sah
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Joint Center for Neuroscience and Neural Engineering, and Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China
| | - Patricio Opazo
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- UK Dementia Research Institute, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Kai-Hsiang Chuang
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Centre of Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Australian Research Council Training Centre for Innovation in Biomedical Imaging Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
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12
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Orlichenko A, Qu G, Zhang G, Patel B, Wilson TW, Stephen JM, Calhoun VD, Wang YP. Latent Similarity Identifies Important Functional Connections for Phenotype Prediction. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2023; 70:1979-1989. [PMID: 37015625 PMCID: PMC10284019 DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2022.3232964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Endophenotypes such as brain age and fluid intelligence are important biomarkers of disease status. However, brain imaging studies to identify these biomarkers often encounter limited numbers of subjects but high dimensional imaging features, hindering reproducibility. Therefore, we develop an interpretable, multivariate classification/regression algorithm, called Latent Similarity (LatSim), suitable for small sample size but high feature dimension datasets. METHODS LatSim combines metric learning with a kernel similarity function and softmax aggregation to identify task-related similarities between subjects. Inter-subject similarity is utilized to improve performance on three prediction tasks using multi-paradigm fMRI data. A greedy selection algorithm, made possible by LatSim's computational efficiency, is developed as an interpretability method. RESULTS LatSim achieved significantly higher predictive accuracy at small sample sizes on the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC) dataset. Connections identified by LatSim gave superior discriminative power compared to those identified by other methods. We identified 4 functional brain networks enriched in connections for predicting brain age, sex, and intelligence. CONCLUSION We find that most information for a predictive task comes from only a few (1-5) connections. Additionally, we find that the default mode network is over-represented in the top connections of all predictive tasks. SIGNIFICANCE We propose a novel prediction algorithm for small sample, high feature dimension datasets and use it to identify connections in task fMRI data. Our work can lead to new insights in both algorithm design and neuroscience research.
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13
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Gómez-Carrillo A, Paquin V, Dumas G, Kirmayer LJ. Restoring the missing person to personalized medicine and precision psychiatry. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1041433. [PMID: 36845417 PMCID: PMC9947537 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1041433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Precision psychiatry has emerged as part of the shift to personalized medicine and builds on frameworks such as the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), multilevel biological "omics" data and, most recently, computational psychiatry. The shift is prompted by the realization that a one-size-fits all approach is inadequate to guide clinical care because people differ in ways that are not captured by broad diagnostic categories. One of the first steps in developing this personalized approach to treatment was the use of genetic markers to guide pharmacotherapeutics based on predictions of pharmacological response or non-response, and the potential risk of adverse drug reactions. Advances in technology have made a greater degree of specificity or precision potentially more attainable. To date, however, the search for precision has largely focused on biological parameters. Psychiatric disorders involve multi-level dynamics that require measures of phenomenological, psychological, behavioral, social structural, and cultural dimensions. This points to the need to develop more fine-grained analyses of experience, self-construal, illness narratives, interpersonal interactional dynamics, and social contexts and determinants of health. In this paper, we review the limitations of precision psychiatry arguing that it cannot reach its goal if it does not include core elements of the processes that give rise to psychopathological states, which include the agency and experience of the person. Drawing from contemporary systems biology, social epidemiology, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, we propose a cultural-ecosocial approach to integrating precision psychiatry with person-centered care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Gómez-Carrillo
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Culture and Mental Health Research Unit, Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Vincent Paquin
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Guillaume Dumas
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Precision Psychiatry and Social Physiology Laboratory at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Mila–Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Laurence J. Kirmayer
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Culture and Mental Health Research Unit, Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
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14
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Upadhyaya P, Zhang K, Li C, Jiang X, Kim Y. Scalable Causal Structure Learning: Scoping Review of Traditional and Deep Learning Algorithms and New Opportunities in Biomedicine. JMIR Med Inform 2023; 11:e38266. [PMID: 36649070 PMCID: PMC9890349 DOI: 10.2196/38266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Causal structure learning refers to a process of identifying causal structures from observational data, and it can have multiple applications in biomedicine and health care. OBJECTIVE This paper provides a practical review and tutorial on scalable causal structure learning models with examples of real-world data to help health care audiences understand and apply them. METHODS We reviewed traditional (combinatorial and score-based) methods for causal structure discovery and machine learning-based schemes. Various traditional approaches have been studied to tackle this problem, the most important among these being the Peter Spirtes and Clark Glymour algorithms. This was followed by analyzing the literature on score-based methods, which are computationally faster. Owing to the continuous constraint on acyclicity, there are new deep learning approaches to the problem in addition to traditional and score-based methods. Such methods can also offer scalability, particularly when there is a large amount of data involving multiple variables. Using our own evaluation metrics and experiments on linear, nonlinear, and benchmark Sachs data, we aimed to highlight the various advantages and disadvantages associated with these methods for the health care community. We also highlighted recent developments in biomedicine where causal structure learning can be applied to discover structures such as gene networks, brain connectivity networks, and those in cancer epidemiology. RESULTS We also compared the performance of traditional and machine learning-based algorithms for causal discovery over some benchmark data sets. Directed Acyclic Graph-Graph Neural Network has the lowest structural hamming distance (19) and false positive rate (0.13) based on the Sachs data set, whereas Greedy Equivalence Search and Max-Min Hill Climbing have the best false discovery rate (0.68) and true positive rate (0.56), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Machine learning-based approaches, including deep learning, have many advantages over traditional approaches, such as scalability, including a greater number of variables, and potentially being applied in a wide range of biomedical applications, such as genetics, if sufficient data are available. Furthermore, these models are more flexible than traditional models and are poised to positively affect many applications in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pulakesh Upadhyaya
- School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, HOUSTON, TX, United States
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Kai Zhang
- School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, HOUSTON, TX, United States
| | - Can Li
- School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, HOUSTON, TX, United States
| | - Xiaoqian Jiang
- School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, HOUSTON, TX, United States
| | - Yejin Kim
- School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, HOUSTON, TX, United States
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15
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Yang C, Xiao K, Ao Y, Cui Q, Jing X, Wang Y. The thalamus is the causal hub of intervention in patients with major depressive disorder: Evidence from the Granger causality analysis. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 37:103295. [PMID: 36549233 PMCID: PMC9795532 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the leading mental disorder and afflicts more than 350 million people worldwide. The underlying neural mechanisms of MDD remain unclear, hindering the accurate treatment. Recent brain imaging studies have observed functional abnormalities in multiple brain regions in patients with MDD, identifying core brain regions is the key to locating potential therapeutic targets for MDD. The Granger causality analysis (GCA) measures directional effects between brain regions and, therefore, can track causal hubs as potential intervention targets for MDD. We reviewed literature employing GCA to investigate abnormal brain connections in patients with MDD. The total degree of effective connections in the thalamus (THA) is more than twice that in traditional targets such as the superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex. Altered causal connections in patients with MDD mainly included enhanced bottom-up connections from the thalamus to various cortical and subcortical regions and reduced top-down connections from these regions to the THA, indicating excessive uplink sensory information and insufficient downlink suppression information for negative emotions. We suggest that the thalamus is the most crucial causal hub for MDD, which may serve as the downstream target for non-invasive brain stimulation and medication approaches in MDD treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengxiao Yang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Kunchen Xiao
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yujia Ao
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Qian Cui
- School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Xiujuan Jing
- Tianfu College of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610052, China
| | - Yifeng Wang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China.
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16
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Mills-Finnerty C, Frangos E, Allen K, Komisaruk B, Wise N. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies in Sexual Medicine: A Primer. J Sex Med 2022; 19:1073-1089. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2022.03.217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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17
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Wein S, Schüller A, Tomé AM, Malloni WM, Greenlee MW, Lang EW. Forecasting brain activity based on models of spatiotemporal brain dynamics: A comparison of graph neural network architectures. Netw Neurosci 2022; 6:665-701. [PMID: 36607180 PMCID: PMC9810370 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Comprehending the interplay between spatial and temporal characteristics of neural dynamics can contribute to our understanding of information processing in the human brain. Graph neural networks (GNNs) provide a new possibility to interpret graph-structured signals like those observed in complex brain networks. In our study we compare different spatiotemporal GNN architectures and study their ability to model neural activity distributions obtained in functional MRI (fMRI) studies. We evaluate the performance of the GNN models on a variety of scenarios in MRI studies and also compare it to a VAR model, which is currently often used for directed functional connectivity analysis. We show that by learning localized functional interactions on the anatomical substrate, GNN-based approaches are able to robustly scale to large network studies, even when available data are scarce. By including anatomical connectivity as the physical substrate for information propagation, such GNNs also provide a multimodal perspective on directed connectivity analysis, offering a novel possibility to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics in brain networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Wein
- CIML, Biophysics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany,Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany,* Corresponding Author:
| | - A. Schüller
- CIML, Biophysics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - A. M. Tomé
- IEETA, DETI, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - W. M. Malloni
- Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - M. W. Greenlee
- Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - E. W. Lang
- CIML, Biophysics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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18
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Ghobadi-Azbari P, Mahdavifar Khayati R, Sangchooli A, Ekhtiari H. Task-Dependent Effective Connectivity of the Reward Network During Food Cue-Reactivity: A Dynamic Causal Modeling Investigation. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:899605. [PMID: 35813594 PMCID: PMC9263922 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.899605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural reactivity to food cues may play a central role in overeating and excess weight gain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have implicated regions of the reward network in dysfunctional food cue-reactivity, but neural interactions underlying observed patterns of signal change remain poorly understood. Fifty overweight and obese participants with self-reported cue-induced food craving viewed food and neutral cues during fMRI scanning. Regions of the reward network with significantly greater food versus neutral cue-reactivity were used to specify plausible models of task-related neural interactions underlying the observed blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal, and a bi-hemispheric winning model was identified in a dynamic causal modeling (DCM) framework. Neuro-behavioral correlations are investigated with group factor analysis (GFA) and Pearson's correlation tests. The ventral tegmental area (VTA), amygdalae, and orbitofrontal cortices (OFC) showed significant food cue-reactivity. DCM suggests these activations are produced by largely reciprocal dynamic signaling between these regions, with food cues causing regional disinhibition and an apparent shifting of activity to the right amygdala. Intrinsic self-inhibition in the VTA and right amygdala is negatively correlated with measures of food craving and hunger and right-amygdalar disinhibition by food cues is associated with the intensity of cue-induced food craving, but no robust cross-unit latent factors were identified between the neural group and behavioral or demographic variable groups. Our results suggest a rich array of dynamic signals drive reward network cue-reactivity, with the amygdalae mediating much of the dynamic signaling between the VTA and OFCs. Neuro-behavioral correlations suggest particularly crucial roles for the VTA, right amygdala, and the right OFC-amygdala connection but the more robust GFA identified no cross-unit factors, so these correlations should be interpreted with caution. This investigation provides novel insights into dynamic circuit mechanisms with etiologic relevance to obesity, suggesting pathways in biomarker development and intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Arshiya Sangchooli
- Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamed Ekhtiari
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, MN, United States
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19
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Chen Y, Rosen BQ, Sejnowski TJ. Dynamical differential covariance recovers directional network structure in multiscale neural systems. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2117234119. [PMID: 35679342 PMCID: PMC9214501 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2117234119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Investigating neural interactions is essential to understanding the neural basis of behavior. Many statistical methods have been used for analyzing neural activity, but estimating the direction of network interactions correctly and efficiently remains a difficult problem. Here, we derive dynamical differential covariance (DDC), a method based on dynamical network models that detects directional interactions with low bias and high noise tolerance under nonstationarity conditions. Moreover, DDC scales well with the number of recording sites and the computation required is comparable to that needed for covariance. DDC was validated and compared favorably with other methods on networks with false positive motifs and multiscale neural simulations where the ground-truth connectivity was known. When applied to recordings of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), DDC consistently detected regional interactions with strong structural connectivity in over 1,000 individual subjects obtained by diffusion MRI (dMRI). DDC is a promising family of methods for estimating connectivity that can be generalized to a wide range of dynamical models and recording techniques and to other applications where system identification is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusi Chen
- Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, La Jolla, CA 92037
- Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
| | - Burke Q. Rosen
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
| | - Terrence J. Sejnowski
- Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, La Jolla, CA 92037
- Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
- Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
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20
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Hipólito I. Cognition Without Neural Representation: Dynamics of a Complex System. Front Psychol 2022; 12:643276. [PMID: 35095629 PMCID: PMC8789682 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper proposes an account of neurocognitive activity without leveraging the notion of neural representation. Neural representation is a concept that results from assuming that the properties of the models used in computational cognitive neuroscience (e.g., information, representation, etc.) must literally exist the system being modelled (e.g., the brain). Computational models are important tools to test a theory about how the collected data (e.g., behavioural or neuroimaging) has been generated. While the usefulness of computational models is unquestionable, it does not follow that neurocognitive activity should literally entail the properties construed in the model (e.g., information, representation). While this is an assumption present in computationalist accounts, it is not held across the board in neuroscience. In the last section, the paper offers a dynamical account of neurocognitive activity with Dynamical Causal Modelling (DCM) that combines dynamical systems theory (DST) mathematical formalisms with the theoretical contextualisation provided by Embodied and Enactive Cognitive Science (EECS).
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Affiliation(s)
- Inês Hipólito
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Institut für Philosophie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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21
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Volume and Connectivity Differences in Brain Networks Associated with Cognitive Constructs of Binge Eating. eNeuro 2022; 9:ENEURO.0080-21.2021. [PMID: 35064023 PMCID: PMC8856709 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0080-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) are characterized by episodes of eating large amounts of food while experiencing a loss of control. Recent studies suggest that the underlying causes of BN/BED consist of a complex system of environmental cues, atypical processing of food stimuli, altered behavioral responding, and structural/functional brain differences compared with healthy controls (HC). In this narrative review, we provide an integrative account of the brain networks associated with the three cognitive constructs most integral to BN and BED, namely increased reward sensitivity, decreased cognitive control, and altered negative affect and stress responding. We show altered activity in BED/BN within several brain networks, specifically in the striatum, insula, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and cingulate gyrus. Numerous key nodes in these networks also differ in volume and connectivity compared with HC. We provide suggestions for how this integration may guide future research into these brain networks and cognitive constructs.
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22
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A thalamo-centric neural signature for restructuring negative self-beliefs. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:1611-1617. [PMID: 34974523 PMCID: PMC9095461 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01402-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 11/13/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Negative self-beliefs are a core feature of psychopathology. Despite this, we have a limited understanding of the brain mechanisms by which negative self-beliefs are cognitively restructured. Using a novel paradigm, we had participants use Socratic questioning techniques to restructure negative beliefs during ultra-high resolution 7-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (UHF 7 T fMRI) scanning. Cognitive restructuring elicited prominent activation in a fronto-striato-thalamic circuit, including the mediodorsal thalamus (MD), a group of deep subcortical nuclei believed to synchronize and integrate prefrontal cortex activity, but which has seldom been directly examined with fMRI due to its small size. Increased activity was also identified in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), a region consistently activated by internally focused mental processing, as well as in lateral prefrontal regions associated with regulating emotional reactivity. Using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM), evidence was found to support the MD as having a strong excitatory effect on the activity of regions within the broader network mediating cognitive restructuring. Moreover, the degree to which participants modulated MPFC-to-MD effective connectivity during cognitive restructuring predicted their individual tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking. Our findings represent a major shift from a cortico-centric framework of cognition and provide important mechanistic insights into how the MD facilitates key processes in cognitive interventions for common psychiatric disorders. In addition to relaying integrative information across basal ganglia and the cortex, we propose a multifaceted role for the MD whose broad excitatory pathways act to increase synchrony between cortical regions to sustain complex mental representations, including the self.
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23
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Neige C, Rannaud Monany D, Lebon F. Exploring cortico-cortical interactions during action preparation by means of dual-coil transcranial magnetic stimulation: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 128:678-692. [PMID: 34274404 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Action preparation is characterized by a set of complex and distributed processes that occur in multiple brain areas. Interestingly, dual-coil transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a relevant technique to probe effective connectivity between cortical areas, with a high temporal resolution. In the current systematic review, we aimed at providing a detailed picture of the cortico-cortical interactions underlying action preparation focusing on dual-coil TMS studies. We considered four theoretical processes (impulse control, action selection, movement initiation and action reprogramming) and one task modulator (movement complexity). The main findings highlight 1) the interplay between primary motor cortex (M1) and premotor, prefrontal and parietal cortices during action preparation, 2) the varying (facilitatory or inhibitory) cortico-cortical influence depending on the theoretical processes and the TMS timing, and 3) the key role of the supplementary motor area-M1 interactions that shape the preparation of simple and complex movements. These findings are of particular interest for clinical perspectives, with a need to better characterize functional connectivity deficiency in clinical population with altered action preparation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cécilia Neige
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Dylan Rannaud Monany
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Florent Lebon
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France.
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Paakki J, Rahko JS, Kotila A, Mattila M, Miettunen H, Hurtig TM, Jussila KK, Kuusikko‐Gauffin S, Moilanen IK, Tervonen O, Kiviniemi VJ. Co-activation pattern alterations in autism spectrum disorder-A volume-wise hierarchical clustering fMRI study. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e02174. [PMID: 33998178 PMCID: PMC8213933 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 04/05/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION There has been a growing effort to characterize the time-varying functional connectivity of resting state (RS) fMRI brain networks (RSNs). Although voxel-wise connectivity studies have examined different sliding window lengths, nonsequential volume-wise approaches have been less common. METHODS Inspired by earlier co-activation pattern (CAP) studies, we applied hierarchical clustering (HC) to classify the image volumes of the RS-fMRI data on 28 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their 27 typically developing (TD) controls. We compared the distribution of the ASD and TD groups' volumes in CAPs as well as their voxel-wise means. For simplification purposes, we conducted a group independent component analysis to extract 14 major RSNs. The RSNs' average z-scores enabled us to meaningfully regroup the RSNs and estimate the percentage of voxels within each RSN for which there was a significant group difference. These results were jointly interpreted to find global group-specific patterns. RESULTS We found similar brain state proportions in 58 CAPs (clustering interval from 2 to 30). However, in many CAPs, the voxel-wise means differed significantly within a matrix of 14 RSNs. The rest-activated default mode-positive and default mode-negative brain state properties vary considerably in both groups over time. This division was seen clearly when the volumes were partitioned into two CAPs and then further examined along the HC dendrogram of the diversifying brain CAPs. The ASD group network activations followed a more heterogeneous distribution and some networks maintained higher baselines; throughout the brain deactivation state, the ASD participants had reduced deactivation in 12/14 networks. During default mode-negative CAPs, the ASD group showed simultaneous visual network and either dorsal attention or default mode network overactivation. CONCLUSION Nonsequential volume gathering into CAPs and the comparison of voxel-wise signal changes provide a complementary perspective to connectivity and an alternative to sliding window analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jyri‐Johan Paakki
- Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biosciences Doctoral ProgrammeUniversity of Oulu Graduate SchoolUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- The Faculty of MedicineResearch Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and TechnologyOulu Functional NeuroImaging GroupUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Department of Diagnostic RadiologyMedical Research CenterOulu University HospitalOuluFinland
| | - Jukka S. Rahko
- Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biosciences Doctoral ProgrammeUniversity of Oulu Graduate SchoolUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Aija Kotila
- Faculty of HumanitiesResearch Unit of LogopedicsUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Marja‐Leena Mattila
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Helena Miettunen
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Tuula M. Hurtig
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
- Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Katja K. Jussila
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Sanna Kuusikko‐Gauffin
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Irma K. Moilanen
- PEDEGO Research UnitFaculty of MedicineChild PsychiatryUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Institute of Clinical MedicineClinic of Child PsychiatryUniversity and University Hospital of OuluOuluFinland
| | - Osmo Tervonen
- The Faculty of MedicineResearch Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and TechnologyOulu Functional NeuroImaging GroupUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Department of Diagnostic RadiologyMedical Research CenterOulu University HospitalOuluFinland
| | - Vesa J. Kiviniemi
- The Faculty of MedicineResearch Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and TechnologyOulu Functional NeuroImaging GroupUniversity of OuluOuluFinland
- Department of Diagnostic RadiologyMedical Research CenterOulu University HospitalOuluFinland
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25
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Fast and effective pseudo transfer entropy for bivariate data-driven causal inference. Sci Rep 2021; 11:8423. [PMID: 33875707 PMCID: PMC8055902 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87818-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying, from time series analysis, reliable indicators of causal relationships is essential for many disciplines. Main challenges are distinguishing correlation from causality and discriminating between direct and indirect interactions. Over the years many methods for data-driven causal inference have been proposed; however, their success largely depends on the characteristics of the system under investigation. Often, their data requirements, computational cost or number of parameters limit their applicability. Here we propose a computationally efficient measure for causality testing, which we refer to as pseudo transfer entropy (pTE), that we derive from the standard definition of transfer entropy (TE) by using a Gaussian approximation. We demonstrate the power of the pTE measure on simulated and on real-world data. In all cases we find that pTE returns results that are very similar to those returned by Granger causality (GC). Importantly, for short time series, pTE combined with time-shifted (T-S) surrogates for significance testing strongly reduces the computational cost with respect to the widely used iterative amplitude adjusted Fourier transform (IAAFT) surrogate testing. For example, for time series of 100 data points, pTE and T-S reduce the computational time by \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$82\%$$\end{document}82% with respect to GC and IAAFT. We also show that pTE is robust against observational noise. Therefore, we argue that the causal inference approach proposed here will be extremely valuable when causality networks need to be inferred from the analysis of a large number of short time series.
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Abstract
The prospect and potentiality of interfacing minds with machines has long captured human imagination. Recent advances in biomedical engineering, computer science, and neuroscience are making brain–computer interfaces a reality, paving the way to restoring and potentially augmenting human physical and mental capabilities. Applications of brain–computer interfaces are being explored in applications as diverse as security, lie detection, alertness monitoring, gaming, education, art, and human cognition augmentation. The present tutorial aims to survey the principal features and challenges of brain–computer interfaces (such as reliable acquisition of brain signals, filtering and processing of the acquired brainwaves, ethical and legal issues related to brain–computer interface (BCI), data privacy, and performance assessment) with special emphasis to biomedical engineering and automation engineering applications. The content of this paper is aimed at students, researchers, and practitioners to glimpse the multifaceted world of brain–computer interfacing.
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Saetia S, Yoshimura N, Koike Y. Constructing Brain Connectivity Model Using Causal Network Reconstruction Approach. Front Neuroinform 2021; 15:619557. [PMID: 33679363 PMCID: PMC7930222 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2021.619557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying brain function is a challenging task. In the past, we could only study brain anatomical structures post-mortem, or infer brain functions from clinical data of patients with a brain injury. Nowadays technology, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), enable non-invasive brain activity observation. Several approaches have been proposed to interpret brain activity data. The brain connectivity model is a graphical tool that represents the interaction between brain regions, during certain states. It depicts how a brain region cause changes to other parts of the brain, which can be implied as information flow. This model can be used to help interpret how the brain works. There are several mathematical frameworks that can be used to infer the connectivity model from brain activity signals. Granger causality is one such approach and is one of the first that has been applied to brain activity data. However, due to the concept of the framework, such as the use of pairwise correlation, combined with the limitation of brain activity data such as low temporal resolution in case of fMRI signal, makes the interpretation of the connectivity difficult. We therefore propose the application of the Tigramite causal discovery framework on fMRI data. The Tigramite framework uses measures such as causal effect to analyze causal relations in the system. This enables the framework to identify both direct and indirect pathways or connectivities. In this paper, we applied the framework to the Human Connectome Project motor task-fMRI dataset. We then present the results and discuss how the framework improves interpretability of the connectivity model. We hope that this framework will help us understand more complex brain functions such as memory, consciousness, or the resting-state of the brain, in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Supat Saetia
- Department of Information Processing, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Natsue Yoshimura
- Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Kawaguchi, Japan
| | - Yasuharu Koike
- Department of Information Processing, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan
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Bajaj S, Killgore WDS. Association between emotional intelligence and effective brain connectome: A large-scale spectral DCM study. Neuroimage 2021; 229:117750. [PMID: 33454407 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Revised: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a well-documented aspect of social and interpersonal functioning, but the underlying neural mechanisms for this capacity remain poorly understood. Here we used advanced brain connectivity techniques to explore the associations between EI and effective connectivity (EC) within four functional brain networks. METHODS The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was used to collect EI data from 55 healthy individuals (mean age = 30.56±8.3 years, 26 males). The MSCEIT comprises two area cores - experiential EI (T1) and strategic EI (T2). The T1 core included two sub-scales - perception of emotions (S1) and using emotions to facilitate thinking (S2), and the T2 core included two sub-scales - understanding of emotions (S3) and management of emotions (S4). All participants underwent structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) scans. The spectral dynamic causal modeling approach was implemented to estimate EC within four networks of interest - the default-mode network (DMN), dorsal attention network (DAN), control-execution network (CEN) and salience network (SN). The strength of EC within each network was correlated with the measures of EI, with correlations at pFDR < 0.05 considered as significant. RESULTS There was no significant association between any of the measures of EI and EC strength within the DMN and DAN. For CEN, however, we found that there were significant negative associations between EC strength from the right anterior prefrontal cortex (RAPFC) to the left anterior prefrontal cortex (LAPFC) and both S2 and T1, and significant positive associations between EC strength from LAPFC to RAPFC and S2. EC strength from the right superior parietal cortex (SPC) to RAPFC also showed significant negative association with S4 and T2. For the SN, S3 showed significant negative association with EC strength from the right insula to RAPFC and significant positive association with EC strength from the left insula to dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (DACC). CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence that the negative ECs within the right hemisphere, and from the right to left hemisphere, and positive ECs within the left hemisphere and from the left to right hemisphere of CEN (involving bilateral frontal and right parietal region) and SN (involving right frontal, anterior cingulate and bilateral insula) play a significant role in regulating and processing emotions. These findings also suggest that measures of EC can be utilized as important biomarkers to better understand the underlying neural mechanisms of EI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Bajaj
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory (SCAN Lab), Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA.
| | - William D S Killgore
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory (SCAN Lab), Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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Whole-brain estimates of directed connectivity for human connectomics. Neuroimage 2020; 225:117491. [PMID: 33115664 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Connectomics is essential for understanding large-scale brain networks but requires that individual connection estimates are neurobiologically interpretable. In particular, a principle of brain organization is that reciprocal connections between cortical areas are functionally asymmetric. This is a challenge for fMRI-based connectomics in humans where only undirected functional connectivity estimates are routinely available. By contrast, whole-brain estimates of effective (directed) connectivity are computationally challenging, and emerging methods require empirical validation. Here, using a motor task at 7T, we demonstrate that a novel generative model can infer known connectivity features in a whole-brain network (>200 regions, >40,000 connections) highly efficiently. Furthermore, graph-theoretical analyses of directed connectivity estimates identify functional roles of motor areas more accurately than undirected functional connectivity estimates. These results, which can be achieved in an entirely unsupervised manner, demonstrate the feasibility of inferring directed connections in whole-brain networks and open new avenues for human connectomics.
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Lund MJ, Alnæs D, Schwab S, van der Meer D, Andreassen OA, Westlye LT, Kaufmann T. Differences in directed functional brain connectivity related to age, sex and mental health. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:4173-4186. [PMID: 32613721 PMCID: PMC7502836 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional interconnections between brain regions define the "connectome" which is of central interest for understanding human brain function. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance (rsfMRI) work has revealed changes in static connectivity related to age, sex, cognitive abilities and psychiatric symptoms, yet little is known how these factors may alter the information flow. The commonly used approach infers functional brain connectivity using stationary coefficients yielding static estimates of the undirected connection strength between brain regions. Dynamic graphical models (DGMs) are a multivariate model with dynamic coefficients reflecting directed temporal associations between nodes, and can yield novel insight into directed functional connectivity. Here, we leveraged this approach to test for associations between edge-wise estimates of direction flow across the functional connectome and age, sex, intellectual abilities and mental health. We applied DGM to investigate patterns of information flow in data from 984 individuals from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and 10,249 individuals from the UK Biobank. Our analysis yielded patterns of directed connectivity in independent HCP and UK Biobank data similar to those previously reported, including that the cerebellum consistently receives information from other networks. We show robust associations between information flow and age and sex for several connections, with strongest effects of age observed in the sensorimotor network. Visual, auditory and sensorimotor nodes were also linked to mental health. Our findings support the use of DGM as a measure of directed connectivity in rsfMRI data and provide new insight into the shaping of the connectome during aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina J. Lund
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Dag Alnæs
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
- Bjørknes University CollegeOsloNorway
| | - Simon Schwab
- Center for Reproducible Science (CRS) & Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute (EBPI)University of ZürichZurichSwitzerland
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Nuffield Department of Population HealthUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Dennis van der Meer
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
- School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life SciencesMaastricht UniversityMaastrichtThe Netherlands
| | - Ole A. Andreassen
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
- KG Jebsen Centre for neurodevelopmental disorders, University of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Lars T. Westlye
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
- KG Jebsen Centre for neurodevelopmental disorders, University of OsloOsloNorway
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Tobias Kaufmann
- Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Division of Mental Health and AddictionOslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of OsloOsloNorway
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Marron TR, Berant E, Axelrod V, Faust M. Spontaneous cognition and its relationship to human creativity: A functional connectivity study involving a chain free association task. Neuroimage 2020; 220:117064. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Fernandes TT, Direito B, Sayal A, Pereira J, Andrade A, Castelo-Branco M. The boundaries of state-space Granger causality analysis applied to BOLD simulated data: A comparative modelling and simulation approach. J Neurosci Methods 2020; 341:108758. [PMID: 32416276 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The analysis of connectivity has become a fundamental tool in human neuroscience. Granger Causality Mapping is a data-driven method that uses Granger Causality (GC) to assess the existence and direction of influence between signals, based on temporal precedence of information. More recently, a theory of Granger causality has been developed for state-space (SS-GC) processes, but little is known about its statistical validation and application on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. NEW METHOD We explored different multivariate computational frameworks to define the optimal combination for GC estimation. We hypothesized a new heuristic, combining SS-GC with a distinct statistical validation technique, Time Reversed Testing, validating it on synthetic data. We test its performance with a number of experimental parameters, including block structure, sampling frequency, noise and system mean pairwise correlation, using a statistical framework of binary classification. RESULTS We found that SS-GC with time reversed testing outperforms other frameworks. The results validate the application of SS-GC to generative models. When estimating reliable causal relations, SS-GC returns promising results, especially when considering synthetic data with a high impact of noise and sampling rate. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we empirically explored the boundaries of SS-GC with time reversed testing, a data-driven causality analysis framework with potential applicability to fMRI data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiago Timóteo Fernandes
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT),University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Bruno Direito
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT),University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3004-504, Coimbra, Portugal; ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Alexandre Sayal
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT),University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal; Siemens Healthineers, Rua Irmãos Siemens, 1 - 1 A, 2720-093, Amadora, Portugal
| | - João Pereira
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT),University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Alexandre Andrade
- Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT),University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3004-504, Coimbra, Portugal; ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal.
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Gilson M, Zamora-López G, Pallarés V, Adhikari MH, Senden M, Campo AT, Mantini D, Corbetta M, Deco G, Insabato A. Model-based whole-brain effective connectivity to study distributed cognition in health and disease. Netw Neurosci 2020; 4:338-373. [PMID: 32537531 PMCID: PMC7286310 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging techniques are now widely used to study human cognition. The functional associations between brain areas have become a standard proxy to describe how cognitive processes are distributed across the brain network. Among the many analysis tools available, dynamic models of brain activity have been developed to overcome the limitations of original connectivity measures such as functional connectivity. This goes in line with the many efforts devoted to the assessment of directional interactions between brain areas from the observed neuroimaging activity. This opinion article provides an overview of our model-based whole-brain effective connectivity to analyze fMRI data, while discussing the pros and cons of our approach with respect to other established approaches. Our framework relies on the multivariate Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (MOU) process and is thus referred to as MOU-EC. Once tuned, the model provides a directed connectivity estimate that reflects the dynamical state of BOLD activity, which can be used to explore cognition. We illustrate this approach using two applications on task-evoked fMRI data. First, as a connectivity measure, MOU-EC can be used to extract biomarkers for task-specific brain coordination, understood as the patterns of areas exchanging information. The multivariate nature of connectivity measures raises several challenges for whole-brain analysis, for which machine-learning tools present some advantages over statistical testing. Second, we show how to interpret changes in MOU-EC connections in a collective and model-based manner, bridging with network analysis. Our framework provides a comprehensive set of tools that open exciting perspectives to study distributed cognition, as well as neuropathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthieu Gilson
- Center for Brain and Cognition and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gorka Zamora-López
- Center for Brain and Cognition and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Vicente Pallarés
- Center for Brain and Cognition and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mohit H. Adhikari
- Center for Brain and Cognition and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mario Senden
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Dante Mantini
- Neuroplasticity and Motor Control Research Group, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Brain Imaging and Neural Dynamics Research Group, IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy
| | - Maurizio Corbetta
- Department of Neuroscience, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) and Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Italy
- Department of Neurology, Radiology, and Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Center for Brain and Cognition and Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Andrea Insabato
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS, Marseille, France
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Duan S, Ma Y, Xie L, Zheng L, Huang J, Guo R, Sun Z, Xie Y, Lv J, Lin Z, Ma S. Effects of Chronic Ephedrine Toxicity on Functional Connections, Cell Apoptosis, and CREB-Related Proteins in the Prefrontal Cortex of Rhesus Monkeys. Neurotox Res 2020; 37:602-615. [PMID: 31858422 DOI: 10.1007/s12640-019-00146-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2019] [Revised: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Ephedrine abuse has spread in many parts of the world, severely threatening human health. The mechanism of ephedrine toxicity is still unclear. To explore the possible neural mechanisms of ephedrine toxicity, this study established a non-human primate model of ephedrine exposure, analyzed the functional connectivity changes in its prefrontal cortex through resting state BOLD-fMRI, and then inspected the pathophysiological changes as well as the expression of the cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein (CREB), phosphorylated CREB (P-CREB), and CREB target proteins (c-fos and fosB) in the prefrontal cortex. After ephedrine toxicity, we found that the prefrontal cortex of monkeys strengthened its functional connectivity with the brain regions that perform motivation, drive, reward, and learning and memory functions and weakened its functional connectivity with the brain regions that perform cognitive control. These results suggest that ephedrine toxicity causes abnormal neural circuits that lead to the amplification and enhancement of drug-related cues and the weakening and damage of cognitive control function. Histology showed that the neurocytotoxicity of ephedrine can cause neuronal degeneration and apoptosis. Real-time PCR and Western blot showed increased expression of CREB mRNA and CREB/P-CREB/c-fos/fosB protein in the prefrontal cortex after ephedrine toxicity. Collectively, the present study indicates that the enhancement of drug-related cues and the weakening of cognitive control caused by abnormal neural circuits after drug exposure may be a major mechanism of brain function changes caused by ephedrine. These histological and molecular changes may be the pathophysiological basis of brain function changes caused by ephedrine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shouxing Duan
- Department of Pediatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Ye Ma
- Department of Linguistics & Languages, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Lei Xie
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Lian Zheng
- Department of Pediatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Jinzhuang Huang
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Ruiwei Guo
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Zongbo Sun
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Yao Xie
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Junyao Lv
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhirong Lin
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China
| | - Shuhua Ma
- Shantou University Medical College, No. 22 Xinling Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China.
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China.
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, No. 57 Changping Road, Shantou, Guangdong, 515041, People's Republic of China.
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Jovellar DB, Doudet DJ. fMRI in Non-human Primate: A Review on Factors That Can Affect Interpretation and Dynamic Causal Modeling Application. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:973. [PMID: 31619951 PMCID: PMC6759819 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 08/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Dynamic causal modeling (DCM)-a framework for inferring hidden neuronal states from brain activity measurements (e. g., fMRI) and their context-dependent modulation-was developed for human neuroimaging, and has not been optimized for non-human primate (NHP) studies, which are usually done under anesthesia. Animal neuroimaging studies offer the potential to improve effective connectivity modeling using DCM through combining functional imaging with invasive procedures such as in vivo optogenetic or electrical stimulation. Employing a Bayesian approach, model parameters are estimated based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to neural and BOLD dynamics (e.g., requires empirical knowledge about the range of plausible parameter values). As such, we address the following questions in this review: What factors need to be considered when applying DCM to NHP data? What differences in functional networks, cerebrovascular architecture and physiology exist between human and NHPs that are relevant for DCM application? How do anesthetics affect vascular physiology, BOLD contrast, and neural dynamics-particularly, effective communication within, and between networks? Considering the factors that are relevant for DCM application to NHP neuroimaging, we propose a strategy for modeling effective connectivity under anesthesia using an integrated physiologic-stochastic DCM (IPS-DCM).
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Affiliation(s)
- D Blair Jovellar
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,Center of Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Doris J Doudet
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Bielczyk NZ, Llera A, Buitelaar JK, Glennon JC, Beckmann CF. Increasing robustness of pairwise methods for effective connectivity in magnetic resonance imaging by using fractional moment series of BOLD signal distributions. Netw Neurosci 2019; 3:1009-1037. [PMID: 31637336 PMCID: PMC6779268 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2018] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Estimating causal interactions in the brain from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data remains a challenging task. Multiple studies have demonstrated that all current approaches to determine direction of connectivity perform poorly when applied to synthetic fMRI datasets. Recent advances in this field include methods for pairwise inference, which involve creating a sparse connectome in the first step, and then using a classifier in order to determine the directionality of connection between every pair of nodes in the second step. In this work, we introduce an advance to the second step of this procedure, by building a classifier based on fractional moments of the BOLD distribution combined into cumulants. The classifier is trained on datasets generated under the dynamic causal modeling (DCM) generative model. The directionality is inferred based on statistical dependencies between the two-node time series, for example, by assigning a causal link from time series of low variance to time series of high variance. Our approach outperforms or performs as well as other methods for effective connectivity when applied to the benchmark datasets. Crucially, it is also more resilient to confounding effects such as differential noise level across different areas of the connectome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Z. Bielczyk
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Alberto Llera
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jan K. Buitelaar
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jeffrey C. Glennon
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Christian F. Beckmann
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Dablander F, Hinne M. Node centrality measures are a poor substitute for causal inference. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6846. [PMID: 31048731 PMCID: PMC6497646 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43033-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Network models have become a valuable tool in making sense of a diverse range of social, biological, and information systems. These models marry graph and probability theory to visualize, understand, and interpret variables and their relations as nodes and edges in a graph. Many applications of network models rely on undirected graphs in which the absence of an edge between two nodes encodes conditional independence between the corresponding variables. To gauge the importance of nodes in such a network, various node centrality measures have become widely used, especially in psychology and neuroscience. It is intuitive to interpret nodes with high centrality measures as being important in a causal sense. Using the causal framework based on directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), we show that the relation between causal influence and node centrality measures is not straightforward. In particular, the correlation between causal influence and several node centrality measures is weak, except for eigenvector centrality. Our results provide a cautionary tale: if the underlying real-world system can be modeled as a DAG, but researchers interpret nodes with high centrality as causally important, then this may result in sub-optimal interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Dablander
- Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Max Hinne
- Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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