Performance comparison between gPDC and PCMI for measuring directionality of neural information flow.

Background: General partial directed coherence (gPDC) and permutation conditional mutual information (PCMI) have been widely used to analyze neural activities. These two algorithms are representative of linear and nonlinear methods, respectively. However, there is little known about the difference between their performances in measurements of neural information flow (NIF).

Impairment of cognitive function and synaptic plasticity associated with alteration of information flow in theta and gamma oscillations in melamine-treated rats.

Changes of neural oscillations at a variety of physiological rhythms are effectively associated with cognitive performance. The present study investigated whether the directional indices of neural information flow (NIF) could be used to symbolize the synaptic plasticity impairment in hippocampal CA3-CA1 network in a rat model of melamine. Male Wistar rats were employed while melamine was administered at a dose of 300 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks.