Towards an information theoretical description of communication in brain networks

Enrico Amico; Kausar Abbas; Duy Anh Duong-Tran; Uttara Tipnis; Meenusree Rajapandian; Evgeny Chumin; Mario Ventresca; Jaroslaw Harezlak; Joaquín Goñi

arXiv · 1911.02601

Towards an information theoretical description of communication in brain networks

Enrico Amico·Kausar Abbas·Duy Anh Duong-Tran·Uttara Tipnis·Meenusree Rajapandian·Evgeny Chumin·Mario Ventresca·Jaroslaw Harezlak·Joaquín Goñi

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Abstract

Modeling communication dynamics in the brain is a key challenge in network neuroscience. We present here a framework that combines two measurements for any system where different communication processes are taking place on top of a fixed structural topology: Path Processing Score (PPS) estimates how much the brain signal has changed or has been transformed between any two brain regions (source and target); Path Broadcasting Strength (PBS) estimates the propagation of the signal through edges adjacent to the path being assessed. We use PPS and PBS to explore communication dynamics in large-scale brain networks. We show that brain communication dynamics can be divided into three main 'communication regimes' of information transfer: absent communication (no communication happening); relay communication (information is being transferred almost intact); transducted communication (the information is being transformed). We use PBS to categorize brain regions based on the way they broadcast information. Subcortical regions are mainly direct broadcasters to multiple receivers; Temporal and frontal nodes mainly operate as broadcast relay brain stations; Visual and somato-motor cortices act as multi-channel transducted broadcasters. This work paves the way towards the field of brain network information theory by providing a principled methodology to explore communication dynamics in large-scale brain networks.

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Enrico Amico, Kausar Abbas, Duy Anh Duong-Tran, Uttara Tipnis, Meenusree Rajapandian, Evgeny Chumin, Mario Ventresca, Jaroslaw Harezlak, Joaquín Goñi. 2019-11-06. Towards an information theoretical description of communication in brain networks. https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.02601

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