Connectivity mapping of the human ECoG during a motor task with a time-varying dynamic Bayesian network

As a partially invasive and clinically obtained neural signal, the electrocorticogram (ECoG) provides a unique opportunity to study cortical processing in humans in vivo. Functional connectivity mapping based on the ECoG signal can provide insight into epileptogenic zones and putative cortical circuits. We describe the first application of time-varying dynamic Bayesian networks (TVDBN) to the ECoG signal for the identification and study of cortical circuits. Connectivity between motor areas as well as between sensory and motor areas preceding and during movement is described. We further apply the connectivity results of the TVDBN to a movement decoder, which achieves a correlation between actual and predicted hand movements of 0.68. This paper presents evidence that the connectivity information discovered with TVDBN is applicable to the design of an ECoG-based brain-machine interface.