Variability of head tissues’ conductivities and their impact in electrical brain activity research

McCann, Hannah 2022. Variability of head tissues’ conductivities and their impact in electrical brain activity research. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The presented thesis endeavoured to establish the impact that the variability in electrical conductivity of human head tissues has on electrical brain imaging research, particularly transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and electroencephalography (EEG). A systematic meta-analysis was firstly conducted to determine the consistency of reported measurements, revealing significant deviations in electrical conductivity measurements predominantly for the scalp, skull, GM, and WM. Found to be of particular importance was the variability of skull conductivity, which consists of multiple layers and bone compositions, each with differing conductivity. Moreover, the conductivity of the skull was suggested to decline with participant age and hypothesised to correspondingly impact tDCS induced fields. As expected, the propositioned decline in the equivalent (homogeneous) skull conductivity as a function of age resulted in reduced tDCS fields. A further EEG analysis also revealed, neglecting the presence of adult sutures and deviation in proportion of spongiform and compact bone distribution throughout the skull, ensued significant errors in EEG forward and inverse solutions. Thus, incorporating geometrically accurate and precise volume conductors of the skull was considered as essential for EEG forward analysis and source localisation and tDCS application. This was an overarching conclusion of the presented thesis. Individualised head models, particularly of the skull, accounting for participant age, the presence of sutures and deviation in bone composition distribution are imperative for electrical brain imaging. Additionally, it was shown that in vivo, individualised measurements of skull conductivity are further required to fully understand the relationship between conductivity and participant demographics, suture closure, bone compositions, skull thickness and additional factors.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy Psychology
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QM Human anatomy R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	electrical conductivity variation, skull conductivity, skull sutures, transcranial direct current stimulation, electroencephalography, source localisation, head modelling
Funders:	KESS
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 May 2022
Last Modified:	14 Dec 2022 02:27
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149490

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