Identifying individuals from their brain natural frequency fingerprints

Abstract

Abstract Neural oscillations are critical for brain function and cognition. Thus, identifying the typical or natural frequencies of the brain is an important step in understanding its functional architecture. Recently, a data-driven algorithm has been developed for mapping these frequencies throughout the cortex, free of anatomical and frequency-band constraints, but its robustness is limited to group-level analyses. Here, we adapt this algorithm to improve the single-subject maps of natural frequencies derived from magnetoencephalography and validate them using the fingerprinting technique. Modifications to the original method included (1) increasing the number of power spectra assigned to each k-means cluster, and (2) smoothing across neighboring voxels. Our results show high accuracy in individual identification within single sessions and across sessions separated by over four years. This demonstrates the stability and reliability of the single-subject mapping of natural frequencies, enhancing opportunities for identification of pathological variations in the intrinsic oscillatory activity of individuals.