Five-dimensional neuroimaging: localization of the time-frequency dynamics of cortical activity

Neuroimage. 2008 May 1;40(4):1686-700. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.01.023. Epub 2008 Jan 31.

Abstract

The spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical oscillations across human brain regions remain poorly understood because of a lack of adequately validated methods for reconstructing such activity from noninvasive electrophysiological data. In this paper, we present a novel adaptive spatial filtering algorithm optimized for robust source time-frequency reconstruction from magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) data. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated with simulated sources and is also applied to real MEG data from a self-paced finger movement task. The algorithm reliably reveals modulations both in the beta band (12-30 Hz) and high gamma band (65-90 Hz) in sensorimotor cortex. The performance is validated by both across-subjects statistical comparisons and by intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) data from two epilepsy patients. Interestingly, we also reliably observed high frequency activity (30-300 Hz) in the cerebellum, although with variable locations and frequencies across subjects. The proposed algorithm is highly parallelizable and runs efficiently on modern high-performance computing clusters. This method enables the ultimate promise of MEG and EEG for five-dimensional imaging of space, time, and frequency activity in the brain and renders it applicable for widespread studies of human cortical dynamics during cognition.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Beta Rhythm
  • Cerebellum / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebellum / physiology
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Electroencephalography
  • Electrophysiology
  • Female
  • Fingers / innervation
  • Fingers / physiology
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Magnetoencephalography
  • Male
  • Motor Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Motor Cortex / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Somatosensory Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Somatosensory Cortex / physiology