Fouladi Kiarash, Ahmadi Hessam, Motie-Nasrabadi Ali
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Biomedical Engineering Department, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
Brain Connect. 2025 Mar;15(2):59-70. doi: 10.1089/brain.2024.0042. Epub 2024 Dec 10.
The brain's function changes during various activities, and numerous studies have explored this field. An intriguing and significant area of research is the brain's functioning during imagination and periods of inactivity. This study explores the differences in brain connectivity during music listening and imagination: by identifying distinct neural connectivity patterns and providing insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying auditory imagination. Effective connectivity matrices were generated using generalized partial directed coherence (GPDC) and directed Directed Transfer Function (dDTF) methods applied to non-invasive electroencephalography data from these two conditions. Statistical tests were performed to illustrate the differences in brain connectivity, followed by the creation of brain graphs and the application of a non-parametric permutation test to demonstrate statistical significance. Data classification between listening to music and imagining it was performed using an Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier with different feature vectors. Combining features extracted from GPDC and dDTF achieved an accuracy of 71.3% while using GPDC and dDTF features individually yielded accuracies of 60% and 62.1%, respectively. Among all the graph's global features, only modularity and small-worldness showed statistically significant differences in dDTF and GPDC. Overall, findings reveal that information flows from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere increases during music imagination compared with listening, highlighting distinct neural connectivity patterns associated with imaginative processes. The study provides novel insights into the distinct neural connectivity patterns during music listening and imagination, contributing to the broader understanding of cognitive processes associated with auditory imagination and perception.
大脑的功能在各种活动中会发生变化，众多研究已经对这一领域进行了探索。一个有趣且重要的研究领域是大脑在想象和不活动期间的功能。本研究探讨了听音乐和想象过程中大脑连通性的差异：通过识别不同的神经连通模式，并深入了解听觉想象背后的认知机制。使用广义偏定向相干（GPDC）和定向传递函数（dDTF）方法，对这两种情况下的非侵入性脑电图数据生成有效连通性矩阵。进行统计测试以说明大脑连通性的差异，随后创建脑图谱并应用非参数置换测试以证明统计显著性。使用具有不同特征向量的支持向量机（SVM）分类器对听音乐和想象音乐的数据进行分类。结合从GPDC和dDTF中提取的特征，准确率达到了71.3%，而单独使用GPDC和dDTF特征时，准确率分别为60%和62.1%。在所有脑图谱的全局特征中，只有模块性和小世界性质在dDTF和GPDC中显示出统计学上的显著差异。总体而言，研究结果表明，与听音乐相比，在音乐想象过程中从左半球向右半球的信息流增加，突出了与想象过程相关的独特神经连通模式。这项研究为听音乐和想象过程中独特的神经连通模式提供了新的见解，有助于更广泛地理解与听觉想象和感知相关的认知过程。
