Genetic algorithms for neuromagnetic source reconstruction

Neuromagnetic source reconstruction is the process of deducing internal brain currents from the external magnetic fields they produce. Brain currents are the result of neural activity and a map of their distribution corresponds to a functional image of the brain. In this paper the reconstruction is formulated as an underdetermined linear inverse problem to which a minimal source solution is sought. The minimal source solution is defined by the minimization of a hybrid metric that accounts for both the sparseness of the reconstruction and its compatibility with the measured magnetic field. Genetic algorithms are employed as a robust means of computing this minimal source reconstruction