Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN), a new software tool for interpreting the cellular and network origin of human MEG/EEG data

Abstract

Magneto- and electro-encephalography (MEG/EEG) non-invasively record human brain activity with millisecond resolution providing reliable markers of healthy and disease states. Relating these macroscopic signals to underlying cellular- and circuit-level generators is a limitation that constrains using MEG/EEG to reveal novel principles of information processing or to translate findings into new therapies for neuropathology. To address this problem, we built Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN, https://hnn.brown.edu) software. HNN has a graphical user interface designed to help researchers and clinicians interpret the neural origins of MEG/EEG. HNN’s core is a neocortical circuit model that accounts for biophysical origins of electrical currents generating MEG/EEG. Data can be directly compared to simulated signals and parameters easily manipulated to develop/test hypotheses on a signal’s origin. Tutorials teach users to simulate commonly measured signals, including event related potentials and brain rhythms. HNN’s ability to associate signals across scales makes it a unique tool for translational neuroscience research.