Extraction of cognitive activity related waveforms from functional optical signals

Recent studies demonstrate that simultaneous functional optical (fNIRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings exhibit strong correlations. Signals acquired by fMRI which is one of the most widely used technologies in the quantification of cognitive activity, are modelled by some standard waveforms. In this study, using independent component analysis and clustering, it is shown that similar waveforms can be extracted out of fNIRS signals. We think that the waveforms extracted from fNIRS signals which have more temporal detail compared with the fMRI would be more effective than standard models in quantifying cognitive activity.