Functional connectivity analysis of cortical networks in Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy using phase synchronization.

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non invasive functional neuroimaging method used for studying brain activity using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal. We use phase synchronization between fNIRS channels to detect functional connections between brain regions in a speech study. Data is collected from 22 neonates whose brain activity was monitored by fNIRS while being exposed to two different types of auditory stimuli. The wavelet based phase locking analysis reveals functional connections between temporal regions and most other regions in general and frontal areas in particular.