Abstract

    The human brain is the most complex organ known to exist. Orchestration of brain function happens through local networks in specialized regions of the brain as well as through global networks shaped by spatially separate regions. Multimodal neuroimaging is a need to cover both the spatial and temporal scales underlying brain processing. In this talk, we will present an integrated methodology platform to map transient functional connectivity of brain processes. In this platform, functional activities are measured by Magnetoencephalography (MEG) with high temporal resolution while brain structures are scanned by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with millimeter-by-millimeter scale of spatial resolution. A new technique, maximum contrast beamformer, is developed to image temporal waveforms of brain activities and the spatiotemporal activation distributions with high contrast. To correlate the obtained activity information with anatomical structure of the brain, we propose an automatic co-registration method that can align MRI images and MEG data accurately and efficiently. For structural research pursuit, we propose to quantify structural deformation specific to the Taiwanese brain by using morphometric approaches.