Connectivity in the Aging Brain

 

The human brain organizes its activity by instantiating networks that involve different brain areas. The study of brain functional connectivity, namely the correlated activation of different nodes within a brain network, is a crucial tool to investigate the working principles of brain activity.


In this project, we study how connectivity changes in the aging brain by relying on EEG recordings. Connectivity is assessed by applying novel time series analysis techniques to brain activity sequences stemming from this kind of recordings.

The investigation can provide new insights on how brain functions are affected by aging and, in particular, on how the shifts in activation power, which are known to occur in elderly subjects, are linked to the underlying network structures.

 

Researchers involved:

Alessio Perinelli, Chiara Tagliabue, Sara Assecondi, Veronica Mazza

 

Selected publication:

Perinelli, A., Castelluzzo, M., Tabarelli, D., Mazza, V. & Ricci, L. (2021). Relationship between mutual information and cross-correlation time scale of observability as measures of connectivity strength. Chaos, 31, doi:10.1063/5.0053857

 

Funding:

The study is part of the project "Strategie per migliorare la cognizione negli anziani" funded by Fondazione Caritro. The study is also part of RARE-Net, University of Trento.