[4eyes] FW: [Cpcn-sem] postdoctoral candidate talk: Tuesday, March 17, 11:00am, Physical Sciences South #2712

[Matthew Turk]

Some of you might be interested in this talk on Tuesday:

 

From: cpcn-sem-bounces at psych.ucsb.edu
[mailto:cpcn-sem-bounces at psych.ucsb.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Miller
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 1:38 PM
To: cpcn-sem at psych.ucsb.edu
Subject: [Cpcn-sem] postdoctoral candidate talk: Tuesday, March 17, 11:00am,
Physical Sciences South #2712

 

Who:           Dani Bassett

                        Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics,
University of Cambridge, UK

 

                        

Title:              Graph Analysis of Human Brain Networks

 

 

Abstract:      The brain is a complex system composed of many different
interacting parts on a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Vast amounts
of sensory information from its surroundings are amassed to produce a range
of both successful and unsuccessful behaviors through many unknown
processes. The analytic tools of both statistical mechanics and graph theory
allow the exploration of emergent behaviors of a system through the detailed
inclusion of all subcomponents and are therefore well suited to uncovering
the governing principles of the brain and resultant behavior. In this talk I
will investigate the possible uses of the application of graph theory to
neuroimaging data from healthy and diseased populations in three separate
studies.

 

In the first study, functional brain networks are derived from
magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 12 healthy subjects in two task
conditions (resting and finger tapping). The brain's function is found to be
characterized by a topological structure intermediate between random
(short-cut connections) and highly ordered (provincial clustering); like
many biological, technological, and social systems, the brain is
small-world. The architecture, as measured by a range of graph metrics,
remains scale-invariant throughout the functioning brain's classical
frequency bands (from low frequency delta to high frequency gamma) and in
both the resting and motor states. Despite the general conservation of
functional architecture, the brain does adjust the length of its high
frequency (especially gamma, >37.5 Hz) connections when it is required to
perform a finger tapping task. The relatively shorter connections in the
resting state suggest the existence of an energy efficiency constraint.

 

In the second study, we therefore hypothesized that the brain functions on a
balanced platform of maximum efficiency for minimum cost, and that the
successfulness of this optimization predicts the cognitive ability of the
system. Frequency specific functional networks were again derived from the
MEG data of 28 healthy controls and 29 people with schizophrenia taken
during a working memory task. A measure of the cost-efficiency of the high
frequency (beta band, 15-30Hz) networks was found to be strongly predictive
of a person's cognitive performance independent of the health of the subject
(whether non-psychotic or diagnosed with schizophrenia).

 

The dependence of cognition on the brain's functional network organization
suggests that the anatomical substrate for these functions may also be
affected by diseases like schizophrenia which limit cognitive ability. In a
third study, we used structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data from
259 healthy subjects and 203 people with schizophrenia to construct
anatomical networks from the pairwise covariation of regional gray matter
volumes. We found that the anatomical structure in the healthy brain
contains a hierarchical organization which is inverted in schizophrenia and
may thus be a vestige of abnormal neurodevelopmental processes.

 

These results are some of the very first to demonstrate the usefulness of
network theory in delineating the large-scale brain systems representations
of structure, behavior, and disease. Further, they extend the boundaries of
this rapidly evolving field which promises to elucidate the brain's emergent
behavior at an increasing level of complexity in the future.

 

 

 

When:           Tuesday, March 17, 2009

                        11:00AM - 12:00PM 

                       

Where:         Physical Sciences South

Room 2712

 

                        Broida connects to PSBS on the second floor

 

                        PSBS is the light pink building neighboring Broida.
Use the outside tiled stairs for access to the 2nd floor.

Room 2712 is the first door on the right after entering the building.

 

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