Normative atlases of neuroelectric brain activity and connectivity from a large human cohort

Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from a large normative cohort (n = 619) were processed to extract measures of regional neuroelectric activity. The overall objective of the effort was to use these measures to identify normative human neuroelectric brain function. The aims were (a) to identify and measure the values and range of those neuroelectric properties which are common to the cohort, (b) to identify and measure the values and range of those neuroelectric properties which distinguish one individual from another, and (c) to identify relationships of the measures to properties of the individual, e.g. sex, biological age, and sleep symptoms. It is hoped that comparison of the resultant established norms to measures from recordings of symptomatic individuals will enable advances is our understanding of pathology. MEG recordings during resting and task conditions were provided by The Cambridge (UK) Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience Stage 2 cohort study. Referee consensus processing was used to localize and validate neuroelectric currents, p < 10-12 for each, p < 10-4 for each when corrected for multiple comparisons. Comparisons of regional activity and connectivity within-subjects produced profuse reliable measures detailing differences between individuals, p < 10-8 for each comparison, p < 0.005 for each when corrected for a total of 5 x 105 comparisons. Cohort-wide regional comparisons (p < 10-8 for each) produced profuse measures which were common to the preponderance of individuals, detailing normative commonalities in brain function. Comparisons of regional gray matter (cellular) vs white matter (communication fibers) activity produced robust differences both cohort-wide and for each individual. These results validate the high spatial resolution of the results and establish the unprecedented ability to obtain neuroelectric measures from the white matter.