Speaker: Peter Zeidman (SPM Methods Group, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, UK)

Title: Recent developments in Bayesian modelling of brain dynamics

Wednesday 14 February 11:30 am
DZNE – house 64, main lecture hall

Abstract: In this talk I will introduce some recent developments in modelling brain activity and connectivity for cognitive neuroscience. These methods, implemented in the SPM software package, enable experimenters to specify models which describe how brain circuitry gives rise to imaging data (e.g. fMRI, EEG, MEG). To test hypotheses, these models can be fitted to the data and compared based on their evidence. I will describe a recent application of these methods for ‘Bayesian fusion’ – a multi-modal neural circuitry model (DCM) which may clarify the relationship between fMRI, EEG and MEG data. I will also show how Bayesian methods can be applied to different kinds of neural model – with a recent example of mapping population receptive fields (pRFs). Together, these methods may offer new ways to test interesting hypotheses about the brain, drawing on data from multiple imaging modalities.