Neural network interactions related to auditory learning analyzed with structural equation modeling

Abstract If learning is an emergent property of interacting brain regions, understanding it requires a network analysis of the patterns of interaction between brain regions. Brain mapping techniques have the potential of providing information about functional interactions within entire neural systems, but computational methods are needed to make sense of the complex interactions that take place in the brain. This review paper illustrates, with examples from auditory learning studies, the application of a computational method that quantifies the interactions among neural regions in terms of networks, and what is gained from this approach. The method is Structural Equation Modeling, and it computes network interactions by combining anatomical circuitry with the covariation in the activity between auditory structures. Activity was assessed by fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, and the functional strengths of auditory pathways were quantified by computing path coefficients representing the strength of the functional influence through each anatomical path. Changes in these values were used as indices of how learned information was processed and modified within the auditory system. Structural models of the auditory system revealed the patterns of network interactions related to habituation to a sound, as well as the patterns related to the opposite learned associative properties of the same sound. They illustrated how the functional interactions among parallel auditory neural pathways were modified as a result of auditory learning. This analysis supports the hypothesis that auditory learning is an emergent network property, distributed among connected brain regions showing specific patterns of interaction. ©1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.