Extraction of Seafarers' Occupational Plasticity Brain Network Based on Effective Connectivity Lateralization

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Occupational Health
• Brain Plasticity

Background:

• Lateralization is key for understanding brain function changes.
• Seafaring involves unique demands impacting seafarers' brain activity.
• Exploring occupational influences on brain plasticity is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel Effective Connectivity Lateralization Analysis (ECLA) framework.
• To analyze the effects of seafaring on brain plasticity using a Transformer-based Granger causality model (Transformer-GC).
• To identify unique occupational plasticity brain networks in seafarers.

Main Methods:

• Developed a Transformer-GC model for effective connectivity (EC) matrix construction.
• Derived lateralization indices to assess occupational influences on brain activity.
• Compared Transformer-GC with GRU-based, MVGC, and Pearson-based models.

Main Results:

• Transformer-GC demonstrated superior performance with accuracy improvements of 16% (GRU), 19.4% (MVGC), and 5% (Pearson).
• ECLA revealed significant differences in Ventral Attention, Somatomotor, and Dorsal Attention networks in seafarers.
• Occupational experience was shown to reshape brain functional activity lateralization.

Conclusions:

• ECLA effectively reveals the impact of long-term maritime work on brain plasticity.
• The study identified specific brain networks affected by seafaring.
• Occupational experience can induce neural plasticity, reshaping brain lateralization.