Characterizing state repertoire and dynamics of spontaneous brain activity by neuroimaging methods (21-32608S)

Basic informations

Investigator: MUDr. Martin Brunovský, Ph.D.
Main recipient: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Co-recipient: Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Research period: 1/4/2021 - 30/9/2024
Total budget: 11,368,000 CZK
NIMH budget: 6,833,000 CZK
Supported by: Czech Science Foundation (GAČR)

Annotace

Current psychological theory provides complex description of mental functions and processes. It is generally accepted that mental functions have brain as their substrate, and that mental processes and states are reflected in brain activity dynamics. A rapidly developing area of brain research is the study of spontaneous brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging, allowing simultaneous measurement of activity dynamics of a plethora of brain networks. It has been suggested that during resting state condition, the brain explores its dynamic repertoire of possible states. However, the structure and dynamics of such exploration remains elusive. We propose to use a combination of data analysis techniques, simultaneous EEG/fMRI measurement of both spontaneous and richly stimulated mental activity and comparison with the ever-growing body of functional neuroanatomical knowledge to characterize the state repertoire and transition dynamics of spontaneous mental activity as observable by neuroimaging methods.