MZA ASSOCIATES CORPORATION — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: Human Social Cultural Behavioral (HSCB) modeling has been described as"the most diffi

Description

Human Social Cultural Behavioral (HSCB) modeling has been described as"the most difficult task humans have yet undertaken"(Pew and Mavor, 1998). Central to this effort is a fundamental understanding of human behavior, but this understanding is currently based on observations that are not only qualitative, but also biased. Neuroimaging modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), however, present the opportunity to develop a quantitative framework within which we may begin to understand human behavior in an unbiased manner. Phase I of this investigation will identify a set of neural correlates of human behavior, which are naturally a function of experimental paradigm, imaging modality, and analysis approach. Experimental paradigms may range from the presentation of simple visual stimuli to immersion in a simulated environment. In addition to fMRI, imaging modalities may include electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography, or a combination. Finally, a variety of statistical methods, including group independent components analysis, functional network connectivity, Granger causality, and dynamic Bayesian networks, are particularly well suited to the decomposition and fusion of the resulting data. Neural correlates identified through this process will form the basis for the specification of the required HSCB application and plans for Phase II.