0-TESTO COMPLETO.pdf - Fondazione Santa Lucia

Sezione III: Attività per progetti
U.O.6 – Laboratorio di Imaging neuroelettrico
e Brain Computer Interface
Donatella Mattia
Specific contribution of the unit to the project
It is well know that the electroencephalography (EEG) is an useful technique
for the study of brain dynamics, due to its high temporal resolution.
However, the spatial resolution of the EEG is rather low, due to the different
electrical conductivities of brain, skull and scalp that markedly blur the EEG
potential distributions, making the localization of the underlying cortical generators
problematic. In the last ten years, this O.U.6 has been developing and
implementing a body of techniques, known as high resolution EEG, to estimate
precisely the cortical activity from non-invasive EEG measurements.
These techniques include the use of a large number of scalp electrodes, realistic
models of the head derived from magnetic resonance images (MRIs), and
advanced processing methodologies related to the solution of the so called
“ inverse problem ”, i.e. the estimation of the brain activity from the EEG
measurements. However, static images of brain regions activated during particular
tasks do not convey the information of how these regions communicate
to each other. The concept of brain connectivity is viewed as central for
the understanding of the organized behavior of cortical regions beyond the
simple mapping of their activity.
This organization is thought to be based on the interaction between different
and differently specialized cortical sites. In this regard, the present
O.U.6 has been gaining expertise in the cortical connectivity estimation aiming
at describing these interactions as connectivity patterns which hold the
direction and strength of the information flow between cortical areas, during
particular sensorimotor and cognitive tasks. The above mentioned knowledge
will be brought into the consortium by the O.U.6 with the specific aim of elucidating
the dynamics of the cortical reorganization phenomena which occur
following chronic peripheral sensorimotor disorders which characterized the
CMT. The opportunity to identify some “ central ” neurophysiological features
of the CMT disease of a would be of potential use in isolating some predictive
indexes of the disease clinical status and evolution (even at the dormant level).
Methods
The methodology proposed by this Unit will be described according to the
general plan of the project.
Rehabilitation Network
An initial planning phase is envisage in which, the criteria of patient
recruitment throughout the units of the consortium are surveyed. This will
allow this O.U. to homogenize the population of patients who will be enrolled
for the EEG study, so that the results obtained by this O.U. could be succes-
734 2009