Modelling a multiplex brain network by local transfer entropy

This paper deals with the information transfer mechanisms underlying causal relations between brain regions under resting condition. fMRI images of a large set of healthy individuals from the 1000 Functional Connectomes Beijing Zang dataset have been considered and the causal information transfer among brain regions studied using Transfer Entropy concepts. Thus, we explored the influence of a set of states in two given regions at time t (A(t) B(t).) over the state of one of them at a following time step (B(t+1)) and could observe a series of time-dependent events corresponding to four kinds of interactions, or causal rules, pointing to (de)activation and turn off mechanisms and sharing some features with positive and negative functional connectivity. The functional architecture emerging from such rules was modelled by a directional multilayer network based upon four interaction matrices and a set of indexes describing the effects of the network structure in several dynamical processes. The statistical significance of the models produced by our approach was checked within the used database of homogeneous subjects and predicts a successful extension, in due course, to detect differences among clinical conditions and cognitive states.