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Dynamic functional brain networks

21 March 2024
10:30 am
San Francesco Complex - Cappella Guinigi

In neuroscience network theoretic approaches have been used to uncover inherent properties of structural and functional brain networks. In the brain networked systems span across different spatial scales: nodes in a network can represent individual neurons, populations of neurons up to brain areas. In this talk I present my studies on the dynamic reconfiguration of the Functional Connectivity (FC) of brain networks, translating the time-varying FC into a temporal (dynamic) network framework. The study of temporal networks (TNs) uncovers the underlying properties of a complex networked system evolving in time by keeping track of the time-ordering or the simultaneity of connections. I show how sequences of activation of transient cell assemblies at the micro-scale can be translated into a TN formalism. At the macro-scale, I will present a novel, TN-based approach to study the arising of aphasia as a postseizure symptom in human epileptic patients. Lastly, I investigate the relation between the simultaneity of connections in a TN and the existence of relevant structures. In particular, I describe how important nodes in a TN interact with each other forming simultaneously connected structures, contributing to the novel definition of the temporal rich club (TRC): a temporally cohesive structure involving the most connected nodes in a time-varying network, that remains more stable over a certain time-span than expected from chance.

 

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relatore: 
Nicola Pedreschi, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
Units: 
NETWORKS