A variety of psychiatric, behavioral and cognitive phenotypes have been linked to brain “functional connectivity” – the pattern of correlation observed between different brain regions. Most commonly assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), here, we investigate the connectivity-phenotype associations with functional connectivity measured with electroencephalography (EEG), using phase-coupling. We analyzed data from the publicly available Healthy Brain Network Biobank. This database compiles a growing sample of children and adolescents, currently encompassing 1657 individuals. Among a variety of assessment instruments we focus on ten phenotypic and additional demographic measures that capture most of the variance in this sample. The largest effect sizes are found for age and sex for both fMRI and EEG. We replicate previous findings of an association of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with the pattern of fMRI functional connectivity. We also find an association with socioeconomic status, anxiety and the Child Behavior Checklist Score. For EEG we find a significant connectivity-phenotype relationship with IQ. The actual spatial patterns of functional connectivity are quite different between fMRI and source-space EEG. However, within EEG we observe clusters of functional connectivity that are consistent across frequency bands. Additionally we analyzed reproducibility of functional connectivity. We compare connectivity obtained with different tasks, including resting state, a video and a visual flicker task. For both EEG and fMRI the variation between tasks was smaller than the variability observed between subjects. We also found an increase of reliability with increasing frequency of the EEG, and increased sampling duration. We conclude that, while the patterns of functional connectivity are distinct between fMRI and phase-coupling of EEG, they are nonetheless similar in their robustness to the task, and similar in that idiosyncratic patterns of connectivity predict individual phenotypes.

SummaryIn natural “active” vision, humans and other primates use eye movements (saccades) to sample bits of information from visual scenes. In this process, nonretinal signals linked to saccades shift visual cortical neurons to a high excitability state as each saccade ends. The extent of this saccadic modulation outside of the visual system is unknown. Here, we show that during natural viewing, saccades modulate excitability in numerous auditory cortical areas, with a pattern complementary to that seen in visual areas. Bi-directional functional connectivity patterns suggest that these effects may arise from regions involved in saccade generation. By using saccadic signals to yoke excitability states in auditory areas to those in visual areas, the brain can improve information processing in complex natural settings.

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In this work we present a dataset that combines functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to use as a resource for the understanding of human brain function. The dataset can also be used for optimizing preprocessing methods for simultaneously collected imaging data. The dataset includes simultaneously collected recordings from 22 individuals (ages: 23-51) across various visual and naturalistic stimuli. In addition, physiological, eye tracking, electrocardiography, and cognitive and behavioral data were collected along with this neuroimaging data. Visual tasks include a flickering checkerboard that was collected outside and inside the MRI scanner (EEG-only) and simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings. Simultaneous recordings also included rest, the visual paradigm Inscapes, and several short video movies representing naturalistic stimuli. We present this dataset as part of an effort to provide open-access data with the goal of increasing the opportunity for discoveries and understanding of the human brain and evaluating the correlation between electrical brain activity and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals.

Our continuous visual experience in daily life is dominated by change. Previous research has focused on visual change due to stimulus motion, eye movements or unfolding events, but not their combined impact across the brain, or their interactions with semantic novelty. We investigate the neural responses to these sources of novelty during film viewing. We analyzed intracranial recordings in humans across 6328 electrodes from 23 individuals. Responses associated with saccades and film cuts were dominant across the entire brain. Film cuts at semantic event boundaries were particularly effective in the temporal and medial temporal lobe. Saccades to visual targets with high visual novelty were also associated with strong neural responses. Specific locations in higher-order association areas showed selectivity to either high or low-novelty saccades. We conclude that neural activity associated with film cuts and eye movements is widespread across the brain and is modulated by semantic novelty.

Our continuous visual experience in daily life is dominated by change. Previous research has focused on the effects of visual motion, eye movements or the transition between events, but has failed to capture their full impact across the brain. Using intracranial recordings in humans, we investigate the neural responses to these sources of novelty during the natural experience of watching film. Responses to saccades and film cuts were much stronger than those to visual motion, extending far beyond traditional visual processing areas. Film cuts associated with semantic event boundaries elicit strong and specific responses in higher-order brain areas. Saccades associated with high visual novelty also elicit strong neural responses. Specific locations in higher-order brain areas show selectivity to either high or low-novelty saccade, as well as face or non-face targets. In summary, visual and semantic novelty drive much of the human brain, while exhibiting specialization to specific forms of novelty.