What is this course all about?
Neuroscience (brain science) is changing new brain-imaging technologies are allowing increasingly huge data sets, but analyzing the resulting Big Data is one of the biggest struggles in modern neuroscience (if don't believe me, ask a neuroscientist. ).
The increases in the number of simultaneously recorded data channels allows new discoveries about spatiotemporal structure in the brain, but also presents new challenges for data analyses. Because data are stored in matrices, algorithms developed in linear algebra are extremely useful.
What is this course all about?
Neuroscience (brain science) is changing new brain-imaging technologies are allowing increasingly huge data sets, but analyzing the resulting Big Data is one of the biggest struggles in modern neuroscience (if don't believe me, ask a neuroscientist. ).
The increases in the number of simultaneously recorded data channels allows new discoveries about spatiotemporal structure in the brain, but also presents new challenges for data analyses. Because data are stored in matrices, algorithms developed in linear algebra are extremely useful.
The purpose of this course is to teach you some matrix-based data analysis methods in neural time series data, with a focus on multivariate dimensionality reduction and source-separation methods. This includes covariance matrices, principal components analysis (PCA), generalized eigendecomposition (even better than PCA. ), and independent components analysis (ICA). The course is mathematically rigorous but is approachable to individuals with no formal mathematics background. The course comes with MATLAB and Python code (note that the videos show the MATLAB code and the Python code is a close match).
You should take this course if you are a...
neuroscience researcher who is looking for ways to analyze your multivariate data.
student who wants to be competitive for a neuroscience PhD or postdoc position.
non-neuroscientist who is interested in learning more about the big questions in modern brain science.
independent learner who wants to advance your linear algebra knowledge.
mathematician, engineer, or physicist who is curious about applied matrix decompositions in neuroscience.
person who wants to learn more about principal components analysis (PCA) and/or independent components analysis (ICA)
intrigued by the image that starts off the Course Preview and want to know what it means. (The answers are in this course. )
Unsure if this course is right for you?
I worked hard to make this course accessible to anyone with at least minimal linear algebra and programming background. But this course is not right for everyone. Check out the preview videos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I look forward to seeing you in the course.
Figure out if this course is right for you, and if so, how best to learn from this course.
Learn the general goals of neuroscience research, and why neuroscience is moving towards big multivariate datasets.
Definition of spatial filters, analogy to temporal filters, and different flavors of linear spatial filters.
Learn the myriad advantages of spatial filters in multivariate neuroscience.
Know the several interpretations of the word “dimension,” and the definition used in this course.
Understand the different interpretations of “source,” know which definition is used in this course, and appreciate the importance of source separation.
Mechanisms of source mixing, the idea and importance of unmixing, and some key source separation terminology.
Reducing dimensionality and separating sources are very different. This video explains why.
Know the difference between linear and nonlinear filters, and why linear filters are appropriate in many areas of neuroscience.
Want to know whether you can apply source separation methods to your data? Watch this video to find out!
Learn about the concepts, assumptions, and representations of correlations and covariances.
Learn the element-wise and matrix equations for covariances. Have some pointers for what to look for when viewing covariance matrices.
Create covariance matrices of simulated data.
Create covariance matrices of real EEG data.
See why covariance matrices must be symmetric.
See the theory implemented in MATLAB.
The "quadratic form" provides a way of understanding and visualizing the beautiful geometry of a covariance matrix.
Create and visualize the quadratic form of a covariance matrix in MATLAB.
Learn the objective and math of PCA.
Build geometric intuition of PCA using dots and surfaces.
Have step-by-step instructions for computing a PCA on multichannel data.
Follow the instructions to perform a PCA!
See a mathematical proof that all PCs (covariance eigenvectors) are orthogonal.
Learn how to interpret the eigenvalues.
Perform PCA of simulated EEG data.
Perform PCA of real EEG data.
Make sure you can use the pca() function.
Understand what happens when you don't mean-center data before computing a covariance matrix.
Understand why singular value decomposition of a data matrix will give the same results as eigendecomposition of a covariance matrix.
Demonstration of the equivalence of SVD and eigendecomposition for PCA.
Learn how to use PCA to observe the state-space of a system.
Demonstration of 2D state-space analysis in real EEG data.
PCA on phase-locked vs. total signal.
Learn why PCA is not good for source separation in multivariate neural datasets.
Conceptual idea of why and how to generalize PCA for an appropriate and general source separation algorithm.
Build geometric intuition of GED using the quadratic form of covariance matrices.
Learn the math (linear algebra) that underlies the solution to GED-based source separation.
Understand why the spatial filter is applied to the data, while the spatial pattern is interpreted.
Understand the origin of eigenvector sign indeterminancy, and how to "fix" the component sign.
See how GED can separate two independent sources in simulated EEG data.
A discussion of how to construct the two covariance matrices.
See GED in action in task-related real EEG data!
Use GED to create optimal spatial filters for narrowband spectral activity.
PCA and GED can be combined for compression/source separation, which is good for large-scale datasets.
Apply your knowledge about two-stage compression/separation to real EEG data!
Increase spatial precision by reducing large dimensions using (partial) whitening.
Apply your knowledge about ZCA and two-stage compression/separation to real EEG data!
Consider the consequences of covariance non-stationarities on source separation results.
Demonstrate the effects of covariance changes on resulting source projection topographies.
Learn the math and theory of shrinkage regularization.
Shrinkage regularization applied in MATLAB.
How to let the data tell you how much to regularize.
Don't worry, you didn't break the universe.
See a demonstration of GED and factor analysis (with default settings) on source separation.
What happens in your brain when you turn on a strobe light?
Learn about the key analysis motivations for a spatial filter for SSVEP.
The RESS analysis pipeline in words and pictures.
See RESS applied in action on real EEG data.
Theoretical/conceptual overview of ICA
See ICA in a simple example in a small dataset.
Independent components analysis in simulated EEG data.
ICs are supposed to be non-Gaussian. What do they really look like?!
Learn what "overfitting" means and what implications it has for source separation (hint: it's not all bad!).
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