AIBN Seminar Series Toward building neuroimaging biomarkers for RDoC’s cognitive systems via multimodal fusion.

We are pleased to present Narun Pat from the University of Otago to speak on the topic Toward building neuroimaging biomarkers for RDoC’s cognitive systems via multimodal fusion.

When: Thursday 4th July 2024

Where:AIBN Level 1 Seminar room or online via zoom. Click here to join

Time: 11am

Abstract:

A leading transdiagnostic framework for psychiatry, NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), treats cognition as one of the main functional domains for psychopathology across diagnoses. Specifically, RDoC stipulates the relationship between cognition and mental health to be manifested across neurobiological units of analysis, from the brain to genes. Yet, recent research has called into question the ability of brain MRI to robustly capture individual differences in cognition, challenging its potential use as a neuroimaging biomarker for RDoC’s cognition. To address this, we proposed the use of machine learning to fuse brain MRI data across modalities, from task-fMRI contrasts and functional connectivity during tasks and rest to structural MRI, into one prediction model. Using various large-scale datasets across the lifespan, we found that multimodal fusion consistently improves psychometric properties of brain MRI in capturing cognition in several aspects: 1) predictive ability, or creating out-of-sample prediction of individuals’ cognition based on their brain MRI, and 2) test-retest reliability, or making a consistent prediction over time. We then tested the utility of this method in explaining the relationship between cognition and mental health. Using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, we found that the relationship between cognition and mental health was accounted for by neuroimaging at 69%, as compared to 18% by polygenic scores. Accordingly, multimodal fusion appears to be a viable approach to build neuroimaging biomarkers for RDoC’s cognitive systems.

Bio:

Narun Pat is a senior lecturer (beyond the bar) at the Department of Psychology, University of Otago in New Zealand. His laboratory is currently interested in creating predictive models for cognition and mental health, using big data in neuroscience and psychology. He received his PhD in Brain Behavior and Cognition from Northwestern University, USA. Thereafter, he was a research fellow at National University of Singapore, Singapore, and then at the US National Institute of Mental Health, USA. He started his Human Affective and Motivational Neuroscience Lab at University of Otago in 2019. His research has been funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, NZ Neurological Foundation, Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation and Otago Medical Research Foundation.