Tracking the Reorganization of Module Structure in Time-Varying Weighted Brain Functional Connectivity Networks

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Christoph Schmidt - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Diana Piper - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Britta Pester - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Andreas Mierau - , German Sport University Cologne (Author)
  • Herbert Witte - , Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)

Abstract

Identification of module structure in brain functional networks is a promising way to obtain novel insights into neural information processing, as modules correspond to delineated brain regions in which interactions are strongly increased. Tracking of network modules in time-varying brain functional networks is not yet commonly considered in neuroscience despite its potential for gaining an understanding of the time evolution of functional interaction patterns and associated changing degrees of functional segregation and integration. We introduce a general computational framework for extracting consensus partitions from defined time windows in sequences of weighted directed edge-complete networks and show how the temporal reorganization of the module structure can be tracked and visualized. Part of the framework is a new approach for computing edge weight thresholds for individual networks based on multiobjective optimization of module structure quality criteria as well as an approach for matching modules across time steps. By testing our framework using synthetic network sequences and applying it to brain functional networks computed from electroencephalographic recordings of healthy subjects that were exposed to a major balance perturbation, we demonstrate the framework's potential for gaining meaningful insights into dynamic brain function in the form of evolving network modules. The precise chronology of the neural processing inferred with our framework and its interpretation helps to improve the currently incomplete understanding of the cortical contribution for the compensation of such balance perturbations.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number1750051
Number of pages26
JournalInternational Journal of Neural Systems
Volume28
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - May 2018
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 29297262
WOS 000427254300003
ORCID /0000-0001-8264-2071/work/142254078

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Time-varying network, weighted network analysis, thresholding procedures, module structure, network community, consensus clustering, module matching, brain connectivity, ASSIGNMENT, COMMUNITIES, DYNAMICS