Neuroscience is moving towards a more integrative discipline, where understanding brain function requires consolidating the accumulated evidence seen across experiments, species, and measurement techniques. A remaining challenge on that path is integrating such heterogeneous data into analysis workflows such that consistent and comparable conclusions can be distilled as an experimental basis for models and theories. Here, we propose a solution in the context of slow wave activity (<1 Hz), which occurs during unconscious brain states like sleep and general anesthesia, and is observed across diverse experimental approaches. We address the issue of integrating and comparing heterogeneous data by conceptualizing a general pipeline design that is adaptable to a variety of inputs and applications. Furthermore, we present the Collaborative Brain Wave Analysis Pipeline (Cobrawap) as a concrete, reusable software implementation to perform broad, detailed, and rigorous comparisons of slow wave characteristics across multiple, openly available ECoG and calcium imaging datasets.
@article{arxiv.2211.08527,
title = {Comparing apples to apples -- Using a modular and adaptable analysis pipeline to compare slow cerebral rhythms across heterogeneous datasets},
author = {Robin Gutzen and Giulia De Bonis and Chiara De Luca and Elena Pastorelli and Cristiano Capone and Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro and Francesco Resta and Arnau Manasanch and Francesco Saverio Pavone and Maria V. Sanchez-Vives and Maurizio Mattia and Sonja Grün and Pier Stanislao Paolucci and Michael Denker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.08527},
year = {2024}
}