Resting state functional connectivity of the whole head with near-infrared spectroscopy.

Resting state connectivity aims to identify spontaneous cerebral hemodynamic fluctuations that reflect neuronal activity at rest. In this study, we investigated the spatial-temporal correlation of hemoglobin concentration signals over the whole head during the resting state. By choosing a source-detector pair as a seed, we calculated the correlation value between its time course and the time course of all other source-detector combinations, and projected them onto a topographic map. In all subjects, we found robust spatial interactions in agreement with previous fMRI and NIRS findings. Strong correlations between the two opposite hemispheres were seen for both sensorimotor and visual cortices. Correlations in the prefrontal cortex were more heterogeneous and dependent on the hemodynamic contrast. HbT provided robust, well defined maps, suggesting that this contrast may be used to better localize functional connectivity. The effects of global systemic physiology were also investigated, particularly low frequency blood pressure oscillations which give rise to broad regions of high correlation and mislead interpretation of the results. These results confirm the feasibility of using functional connectivity with optical methods during the resting state, and validate its use to investigate cortical interactions across the whole head.