Describing relevant indices from the resting state electrophysiological networks

The "Default Mode Network" concept was defined, in fMRI field, as a consistent pattern, involving some regions of the brain, which is active during resting state activity and deactivates during attention demanding or goal-directed tasks. Several fMRI studies described its features also correlating the deactivations with the attentive load required for the task execution. Despite the efforts in EEG field, aiming at correlating the spectral features of EEG signals with DMN, an electrophysiological correlate of the DMN hasn't yet been found. In this study we used advanced techniques for functional connectivity estimation for describing the neuroelectrical properties of DMN. We analyzed the connectivity patterns elicited during the rest condition by 55 healthy subjects by means of Partial Directed Coherence. We extracted some graph indexes in order to describe the properties of the resting network in terms of local and global efficiencies, symmetries and influences between different regions of the scalp. Results highlighted the presence of a consistent network, elicited by more than 70% of analyzed population, involving mainly frontal and parietal regions. The properties of the resting network are uniform among the population and could be used for the construction of a normative database for the identification of pathological conditions.