Testing approaches to statistical evaluation of connectivity estimates in epileptic brain based on simple oscillatory models

Abstract

Here we study two different approaches to statistical evaluation of transfer entropy estimates in application to study of spike-wave discharges (SWDs), the main encephalographic manifestation of absence epilepsy, registered in local field potentials of WAG/Rij rats (genetic models). The first approach is to compare distributions of the estimators for baseline and pathological activity using traditional measures like t-test with additional corrections for multiple testing. The second approach is to make surrogate data and test whether the estimators achieved from real data differ from those achieved from surrogate data. The investigation is done based on the series simulated using simple oscillatory models of epileptic activity.