COGNITIVE AND COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE: A WHITE MATTER CABLE THEORETIC MODEL OF EEG BIORHYTHMS
Abstract
Human electroencephalogram (EEG) celebrates its 95th birthday this year. Since its inception, EEG has provided unparalleled and non-invasive access to the temporal dynamics of the brain. EEG measures voltage fluctuations at the scalp that reflect the instantaneous superposition of electric dipoles in the brain. However, one major challenge in EEG remains: How can external EEG measurements at the scalp be used to determine the internal location in the brain responsible for generating the signal? In EEG research, this problem is often referred to as the inverse problem, and it is considered “ill-posed” because there are an infinite combination of internal fluctuations that could propagate to the scalp to produce a particular measurement. Answering this question is of vital importance for diseases such as epilepsy, where determining the precise location of a seizure onset zone is critical for patients who require surgical resection, or removal of brain tissue. Localizing EEG generators with minimal spatial error is also crucial for effective development of a wide range of brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. Here, we propose to test a novel computational model that suggests signals traveling along the white matter tracts in the brain may be responsible for characteristic signatures in EEG recordings. This is in contrast to the classic view that EEG measurements reflect synchronous firing in gray matter. We will first test the ability of this model to predict inter-individual differences in recordings based on white matter by leveraging the large human connectome project (HCP) data set. Secondly, we will disrupt activity using a novel ultrasound based neuromodulatory technique. Should this proposal confirm our novel white matter model, it would potentially enable a number of clinical and BCI based applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2021
- Source ID
- FA95502010042
Entities
People
- Pamela Douglas
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Central Florida Board of Trustees