How well does structural equation modeling reveal abnormal brain anatomical connections? An fMRI simulation study.

ABSTRACT: Many brain disorders result from alterations in the strength of anatomical connectivity between different brain regions. This study investigates whether such alterations can be revealed by examining differences in interregional effective connectivity between patient and normal subjects. We applied one prominent effective connectivity method - Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) - to simulated functional MRI (fMRI) timeseries from a neurobiologically realistic network model in which the anatomical connectivity is known and can be manipulated. These timeseries were simulated for two task conditions, a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task and passive-viewing, and for "normal subjects" and "patients" who had one weakened anatomical connection in the neural network model. SEM results were compared

SUBMITTER: Kim J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2667383 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature