Browsing by Author "Whaley, Meagan Lee"

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    Applying the Short-Time Direct Directed Transfer Function to Human Electrocorticographic Recordings from a Language Task
    (2013-02) Whaley, Meagan Lee
    This thesis applied the short-time direct directed transfer function (SdDTF) to time series data recordings from intracranial electrodes that measure the brain's electrical activity to determine the causal influences that occurred between brain regions during a speech production task. The combination of high temporal and spatial resolution of the electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings directly from the cortex render these measurements of brain activity desirable, particularly when analyzing the fine cognitive dynamics involved in word generation. This research applied a new method to characterize the SdDTF results by compressing across time and high gamma frequencies, generating adjacency matrices, and graphing them to visualize the influences between anatomical regions over the duration of the entire task. This consolidated SdDTF analysis technique allowed for data from a total of seven patients to be combined, generating results which were consistent with current speech production models. The results from this thesis contribute to the expansion of language research by identifying areas relevant to word generation, providing information that will help surgeons avoid irreparable damage to crucial cortex during brain surgery.
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    Dynamics of Brain Networks During Reading
    (2015-11) Whaley, Meagan Lee
    We recorded electrocorticographic (ECoG) data from 15 patients with intractable epilepsy during a word completion task to precisely describe the spatiotemporal brain dynamics underlying word reading. Using a novel technique of analyzing grouped ECoG, cortical regions distributed throughout the left hemisphere were identified as significantly active versus baseline during our word stem completion task. Regions of activity spread from fusiform to frontal regions, including pars opercularis, pars triangularis, and pre, post, and subcentral gyri during the time period approaching articulation onset. The ECoG data recorded from electrodes within these regions were fit into linear multivariate autoregressive models, which precisely reveal the time, frequency, and magnitude of information ow between localized brain regions. Grouped network dynamics were quantified with two metrics of evaluating statistical significance of post-stimulus interactions compared to baseline. Results from both methods reveal bidirectional exchanges between frontal regions with fusiform, supporting theories which incorporate top-down and bottom-up processing during single word reading.
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    Modulation of Orthographic Decoding by Frontal Cortex
    (Society for Neuroscience, 2016) Whaley, Meagan Lee; Kadipasaoglu, Cihan Mehmet; Cox, Steven James; Tandon, Nitin
    Opinions are divided on whether word reading processes occur in a hierarchical, feedforward fashion or within an interactive framework. To critically evaluate these competing theories, we recorded electrocorticographic (ECoG) data from 15 human patients with intractable epilepsy during a word completion task and evaluated brain network dynamics across individuals. We used a novel technique of analyzing multihuman ECoG recordings to identify cortical regions most relevant to processing lexical information. The mid fusiform gyrus showed the strongest, earliest response after stimulus onset, whereas activity was maximal in frontal, dorsal lateral prefrontal, and sensorimotor regions toward articulation onset. To evaluate interregional functional connectivity, ECoG data from electrodes situated over specific cortical regions of interest were fit into linear multivariate autoregressive (MVAR) models. Spectral characteristics of the MVAR models were used to precisely reveal the timing and the magnitude of information flow between localized brain regions. This is the first application of MVAR for developing a comprehensive account of interregional interactions from a word reading ECoG dataset. Our comprehensive findings revealed both top-down and bottom-up influences between higher-level language areas and the mid fusiform gyrus. Our findings thus challenge strictly hierarchical, feedforward views of word reading and suggest that orthographic processes are modulated by prefrontal and sensorimotor regions via an interactive framework.