Decoding Subject-Driven Cognitive States with Whole-Brain Connectivity Patterns

Abstract

Decoding specific cognitive states from brain activity constitutes a major goal of neuroscience. Previous studies of brain-state classification have focused largely on decoding brief, discrete events and have required the timing of these events to be known. To date, methods for decoding more continuous and purely subject-driven cognitive states have not been available. Here, we demonstrate that free-streaming subject-driven cognitive states can be decoded using a novel whole-brain functional connectivity analysis. Ninety functional regions of interest (ROIs) were defined across 14 large-scale resting-state brain networks to generate a 3960 cell matrix reflecting whole-brain connectivity. We trained a classifier to identify specific patterns of whole-brain connectivity as subjects rested quietly, remembered the events of their day, subtracted numbers, or (silently) sang lyrics. In a leave-one-out cross-validation, the classifier identified these 4 cognitive states with 84% accuracy. More critically, the classifier achieved 85% accuracy when identifying these states in a second, independent cohort of subjects. Classification accuracy remained high with imaging runs as short as 30-60 s. At all temporal intervals assessed, the 90 functionally defined ROIs outperformed a set of 112 commonly used structural ROIs in classifying cognitive states. This approach should enable decoding a myriad of subject-driven cognitive states from brief imaging data samples.

Principal components of functional connectivity: A new approach to study dynamic brain connectivity during rest

“…These networks of regions with coherent activity during rest are consistent across subjects and closely resemble the brain's functional organization of evoked responses (Damoiseaux et al, 2006;Fox and Raichle, 2007;Laird et al, 2011;Smith et al, 2009). Coherent BOLD activity persists during sleep and in anesthetized monkeys, suggesting that it reflects a fundamental property of the brain's functional organization (Larson-Prior et al, 2009;Vincent et al, 2007).Coherent BOLD activity, known as "functional connectivity" (FC), is modulated by learning (Bassett et al, 2011), cognitive and affective states (Cribben et al, 2012;Ekman et al, 2012;Eryilmaz et al, 2011;Richiardi et al, 2011;Shirer et al, 2012) and also spontaneously Chang and Glover, 2010; Kitzbichler et al, 2009). Chang andGlover (2010) showed that FC between the posterior cingulate cortex, a key region of the default mode network, and various other brain regions was highly dynamic over time.…”

Large‐scale brain networks are distinctly affected in right and left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

“…We selected these ROIs to evaluate functional connectivity in widespread brain areas considering distributed relevant functional networks. The Visual network in this study is the union of the ROIs from the High and Prime visual networks described by Shirer et al [2012]. …”

The effect of preprocessing in dynamic functional network connectivity used to classify mild traumatic brain injury

“…Functional relevance of each RSN was determined by assessing spatial overlap with the 90 functional regions of interest (ROI) defined by Shirer, Ryali, Rykhlevskaia, Menon, & Greicius (2012). RSN groups include subcortical (SBC), auditory (AUD), sensorimotor (SEN), cerebellum (CER), visual (VIS), salience (SAL), executive control (ECN), DMN, and language (LAN) brain regions.…”