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Abstract:
Diffusion tensor images and higher-order diffusion images are the
foundation for neuroscience researchers who are trying to gain insight
into the connectome, the wiring scheme of the brain. Although modern
imaging devices allow even more detailed anatomical measurements,
these pure anatomical connections are not sufficient for understanding
how the brain processes external stimuli. Anatomical connections
constraint the causal influences between several areas of the brain,
as they mediate causal influence between them. Therefore, neuroscientists
developed models to represent the causal coherence between several
pre-defined areas of the brain, which has been measured using fMRI,
MEG, or EEG. The dynamic causal modeling (DCM) technique is one of
these models and has been improved to use anatomical connection as
informed priors to build the effective connectivity model. In this
paper, we present a visualization method allowing neuroscientists
to perceive both, the effective connec- tivity and the underlying
anatomical connectivity in an intuitive way at the same time. The
metaphor of moving information packages is used to show the relative
intensity of information transfer inside the brain using a GPU based
animation technique. We provide an interactive way to selectively
view one or multiple effective connec- tions while conceiving their
anatomical connectivity. Additional anatomical context is supplied
to give further orientation cues.
