Low-Dimensional Dynamics of Resting-State Cortical Activity

Endogenous brain activity supports spontaneous human thought and shapes perception and behavior. Connectivity-based analyses of endogenous, or resting-state, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data have revealed the existence of a small number of robust networks which have a rich spatial structure. Yet the temporal information within fMRI data is limited, motivating the complementary analysis of electrophysiological recordings such as electroencephalography (EEG). Here we provide a novel method based on multivariate time–frequency interdependence to reconstruct the principal resting-state network dynamics in human EEG data. The stability of network expression across subjects is assessed using resampling techniques. We report the presence of seven robust networks, with distinct topographic organizations and high frequency (∼5–45 Hz) fingerprints, nested within slow temporal sequences that build up and decay over several orders of magnitude. Interestingly, all seven networks are expressed concurrently during these slow dynamics, although there is a temporal asymmetry in the pattern of their formation and dissolution. These analyses uncover the complex temporal character of endogenous cortical fluctuations and, in particular, offer an opportunity to reconstruct the low dimensional linear subspace in which they unfold.