Multifractal analysis of Resting State Networks in functional MRI

It has been know for at least one decade that functional MRI time series display long-memory properties, such as power-law scaling in the frequency spectrum. Concomitantly, multivariate model-free analysis of spatial patterns, such as spatial Independent Component Analysis (sICA), has been successfully used to segment from spontaneous activity Resting-State Networks (RSN) that correspond to known brain function. As recent neuroscientific studies suggest a link between spectral properties of brain activity and cognitive processes, a burning question emerges: can temporal scaling properties offer new markers of brain states encoded in these large scale networks? In this paper, we combine two recent methodologies: group-level canonical ICA for multi-subject segmentation of brain network, and wavelet leader-based multifractal formalism for the analysis of RSN scaling properties. We identify the brain networks that elicit self-similarity or multifractality and explore which spectral properties correspond specifically to known functionally-relevant processes in spontaneous activity.