Scientific results:
We have developed experiments to study the impact of video content and narratives on the cognitive realm of tested persons, conducted a comparative analysis of the modern neuroimaging methods for the study of the perception of dynamic stimuli. One of the breakthrough alternative algorithms for the analysis of neurobiological data is a method for the study of inter-subject correlation (ISC). The ISC index can be used for determining the similarity of EEG/MEG/MRI signals of test subjects in neurocognitive research. The ISC approach allows to assess the level of correlation between test subjects from one group. High values of ISC suggest a high similarity of EEG/MEG/MRI signals between test subjects, which indicates the consistency (predictability) of signals when these stimuli are presented. The main advantage of this method is the fact that a stimulus can be presented once since there is no necessity to average the data. Therefore experimental devices can become closer to real ones, for instance, when a human views a video, image, listens to a narrative only once. We have adapted inter-subject correlations (ISC) processing algorithms for fMRI, tested an algorithm for conducting research with the use of fast fMRI, ensuring a high temporal frequency of discretization. We have described algorithms of inter-subject correlation (ISC) for EEG/MEG. The Laboratory has conducted an ISC research using EEG/MEG methods. We have created a battery of tests to determine individual differences between test subjects. A principle has been developed for the search for social and ethnic groups with the purpose of conducting research of the influence of narratives on high-risk decisions.
In this project we have studied the brain mechanism of processing dynamic naturalistic information necessary for decision making. Special attention was paid to the research of these mechanisms in the social and cross-cultural context.
Implemented results of research:
We have developed and registered the software program «A package for the automated processing of electroencephalograms using inter-subject correlation methods». The software is designed for the completely automated reading of the Brainstorm workspace and the processing of a prepared array of EEG data using the ISC method.
Education and career development:
- Over the period of the implementation of the project, young employees of the Laboratory prepared 9 final qualifying works and 2 dissertations in the domain of the project.
- We have prepared and are implementing the additional training program «Neuromarketing: a user’s manual».
- In 2021 four postgraduate students completed an intensive internship at Aalto University (Finland) to continue their training in fMRI, EEG and MEG data analysis.
Organizational and structural changes:
The International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, as part of the Institute for Cognitive Neurosciences, participates in the implementation of a large-scale project supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia to re-equip the unique scientific facility of the Higher School of Economics «Automated system for the non-invasive stimulation of the brain with the capability of synchronous registering brain biocurrents and eye movement tracking», which ensures the comprehensive development of the infrastructure for research activity, improving the accessibility level of the unique scientific facility and the growth of the efficiency of its use.
Collaborations:
- Aalto University (Finland): joint research within the mega-grant project and within other collaborative projects, for example, on the topic «Machine learning methods for the study of the cross-cultural aspects of cognition in an environmentally valid experimental context»; student exchanges, joint regular scientific seminars.
- International Tomography Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia): joint research.
- Turner National Medical Research Center for Children's Orthopedics and Trauma of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia: joint research within the project «Cognitive features in children with motor disorders: clinical behavior and neurophysiological correlates» supported by the Russian Science Foundation (implemented since 2019).
- Institute of Brain Science of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Taiwan): joint research within the project «Research of the neurocognitive mechanisms of emotional regulation: a multi-modal approach combining invasive and non-invasive methods of neuroimaging and brain stimulation», supported by the Russian Science Foundation (implemented since 2022).
