About Me

I am a Ph.D student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning of Beijing Normal University, China. Previously, I worked at Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine of University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA as a Research Fellow , supervised by Dr. Ze Wang. I obtained my Master in Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience at CCBD , with Jing Hengyi Scholarship (The highest honor for graduate students at the university), from Hangzhou Normal University (HZNU) and Bachelor in Psychology at School of Pyschology from Jiangxi Normal University(JXNU).

Research Information

Brain Entropy Project

I have been deeply involved in Brain Entropy (BEN) research since the beginning of my graduate studies under the supervision of Dr. Ze Wang (https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/pi/ze-wang-phd/). Entropy is a measure of the nonlinear dynamics system, and BEN quantifies the irregularity, disorderness, and complexity of brain activity.

There are some findings from my research:

Basic and Theory

1. BEN can capture information that cannot be obtained by other resting-state metrics, such as cerebral blood flow and fALFF (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11682-018-9963-4).

2. Higher BEN in the association cortex while lower BEN in the auditory-visual cortex during watching movies compared to resting state (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.12.598767v1.abstract).

3. BEN is associated with brain network (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.14.623700v1.abstract).

Brain Stimulation

1. High-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC reduced BEN in the MOFC/sgACC in healthy young adults (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11682-018-9866-4).

2. Low-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC increased BEN in the MOFC/sgACC and left caudate in healthy young adults (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.16.601109v1.abstract).

3. The subthreshold (90% rMT) iTBS over the left DLPFC reduced striatal BEN, while the suprathreshold (120% rMT) increased striatal BEN in healthy young adults (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878747925000340#ack0010).

Neurochemical Signaling Modulation

1. Progesterone is negatively correlated with left DLPFC BEN, while impulsivity is positively correlated with left DLPFC BEN. Furthermore, impulsivity negatively correlates with progesterone, and this relationship is moderated by left DLPFC BEN (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.04.595915v1.abstract).

2. Intranasal oxytocin administration increases BEN activity in the left TPJ (temporoparietal junction) among younger adults while decreasing BEN in the same region among older adults. This differential effect may be associated with baseline plasma oxytocin levels (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.25.625152v1.abstract).

Clinical association research

1. The severity of major depressive disorder is positively correlated with BEN in the MOFC/sgACC (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032719313473).

2. Reproducible increased BEN in posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCu) and decreased BEN in visual cortex are observed during rumination (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.02.626334v1.abstract).

More research findings on BEN are ongoing...

Doctoral Project

I was supervised by Dr.Yin Wang at Beijing Normal University to perform my doctoral research project. This project is dedicated to increasing our understanding of the functional diversity of the VentroMedial Prefrontal Cortex (VMPFC), a critical region involved in higher-order cognitive functions. We integrate multimodal neuroimaging data, including structural MRI, resting state and task fMRI, and multiple analysis methods including grey matter volume (GMV), myelination, brain entropy (BEN), and connectome-based parcellation. This project provides multiple lines of evidence for the existence of three distinct functional subregions within the VMPFC, which, from anterior to posterior, correspond to social cognition, reward and value-based decision-making, and emotional regulation. By leveraging structural and functional connectomics, we have successfully predicted activation patterns within VMPFC related to social, reward, and emotional tasks, demonstrating robust cross-dataset predictive power. For instance, our predictive model, trained on our own data, was able to accurately forecast task activations from HCP-YA. Furthermore, from non-human primates to humans across the lifespan, consistently reveal a tripartite functional organization within the VMPFC.

The paper is in preparation...

I have published more than 10 peer-reviewed papers about MRI with more than 400 citations according to Google Scholar. Please visit my Researchgate page or My CV for more information.

I have also been a reviewer for Journal of Psychiatric Research, Brain Imaging and Behavior, Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers in Psychiatry, and OHBM2023.

I have also been invited as a guest editor to organize a research topic titled: Methodological Development and Applications of Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis for Neuroimaging with Dr. Kay Jann and Dr. Danny Wang from the University of Southern California on Frontontiers in Neurology.

Please feel free to contact me:

My email: donghuipsy@gmail.com