The reorganizing brain: Uncovering structure in changing neural networks
Abstarct:
The brain is a complex, high-dimensional system whose activity, interactions, and representations continually change with experience, behavior, and internal state. Our challenge is to uncover meaningful structure in these changes and identify the network components that drive them. Our lab develops data-driven analytical frameworks to study neural organization and reorganization across temporal and spatial scales, using recordings ranging from electrophysiology and calcium imaging to human EEG.
In this talk, I will focus on RONI, Riemannian filtering of network interactions, a geometric framework for analyzing time-varying functional connectivity. This high-dimensional, non-Euclidean signal evolves on a Riemannian manifold of symmetric, positive-definite matrices. We define similarity and difference operators that respect the underlying geometry and apply them recursively to obtain a multiscale decomposition. This decomposition identifies “dynamic drivers”: network elements that contribute most strongly to connectivity dynamics. By selecting a compact basis, we can denoise the signal, reveal its underlying temporal structure, and determine which time scales are most relevant to individual drivers. This framework directly links collective network dynamics to functionally relevant neural components and their characteristic time scales. I will demonstrate the applicability of our method to dendritic networks in motor learning and to cellular networks in the hippocampal formation for spatial cognition. In humans, I will show how this framework supports detecting pathological tissue from intracranial EEG recordings.
Across these applications, RONI provides a common analytical framework for investigating how distributed neural interactions support brain function and reveal pathology.
Monday, November 09th, 2026, at 12:10
In Auditorium 015, the Lorry I. Lokey Chemistry Building (#43)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Refreshments will be served starting 11:50
Seminar Coordinator:
Prof. Or Duek
Email: ord@bgu.ac.il
