Did you know that groundbreaking research reports that neuroscientists can identify each of us by our unique brain signature much like a neural thumbprint? They have discovered that you and I display our own distinct brain signature when we’re processing information similar to our unique fingerprints that distinguish us from everyone else on the planet.
At one time, neuroscientists thought brain activity was pretty much the same from one person to another. But in a landmark development, Yale University researchers found that your brain activity is different from anyone else’s, much like your thumbprint. This unique fingerprint reflects innate properties of how your brain is wired. Suppose you’re having a brain scan (fMRI) and you’re relaxing, doing nothing in particular and your brain is at rest. Your at-rest brain signature during a lull predicts how your brain functions during other activities such as decision-making, reading a book or gambling with 99% accuracy. Could this procedure someday be used to predict how employees might function in certain positions, determine career success or even job performance and productivity?
Mapping Your Personal Brain Signature
In 2016, University of Oxford scientist Ido Tavor and his research team obtained data for 98 healthy young adults, including scans taken while the participants performed various tasks. They analyzed the relationships between participants' resting-state brain activity and the oscillations that emerged while they were engaged in various activities such as decision-making and reading as well as just resting. They then tried to predict brain activity profiles for a given participant on each of the tasks using only the individual’s resting-state scan. The predictions matched the brain activity of that person more closely than any of the other participants' scans. The research team concluded, “Our study shows that these co-fluctuations contain enough information to predict how the brain behaves when it is actually doing something explicit.” Knowing these distinctions, the researchers said, can lead to the treatment of neurological disorders as when you’re paralyzed or in a comatose state. The scientists also predicted that resting-state brain scans eventually can provide information about how your brain changes with age or during a psychiatric illness which led to a 2019 study of patients in a vegetative state and a recent July 2020 landmark study which applied the at-rest procedure to people with schizophrenia.
Patients In A Vegetative State
A 2019 study conducted by Dr. Athena Demertzi and her research team at the University of Liége in Belgium analyzed the brain scans of 150 participants—some healthy and some in a vegetative state—who were given a brain scan (fMRI). The scientists discovered certain specific neural signatures that distinguished the participants place on a spectrum from conscious to unconsciousness. Healthy awake and aware participants had a highly active complex signature. At the opposite end of the scale, patients in a vegetative state had the least complex signature with fewer long-distance neural connections, although occasional bursts of consciousness did occur. The findings that human consciousness is supported by dynamic complex patterns of brain signal coordination suggests that these disparate signatures can inform doctors and loved ones if non-responsive patients are capable of conscious thoughts.
People With Schizophrenia
A landmark July 2020 study led by neuroscientist Dr. Janir Ramos and colleagues at the University of Lisbon used at-rest EEG scans to examine the brain patterns of 101 people with schizophrenia, 43 of their healthy siblings, and 75 healthy participants with no schizophrenia family history. Reporting their findings in this month's Nature Communications, the researchers identified a microstate called class C that showed up more often and for longer periods of time in people with schizophrenia and their siblings than in healthy people. The scientists concluded that those with schizophrenia, along with their healthy siblings, share patterns of brain activity that are different from brains of people with no family history of the mental health disorder. They concluded that the differences in brain signatures can serve as biomarkers to diagnose schizophrenia. The scientists reported a second significant finding of a microstate known as class B occurring more often and for longer periods of time in healthy siblings than in those with the mental disorder. According to the research team, despite sharing the same brain signature with their siblings with schizophrenia, the presence of class B in healthy siblings might suggest that it’s a protective mechanism preventing microstate imbalance.
A Final Word: Stay Tuned
As this innovative research continues, it is unveiling brain signatures for shyness and sociability, autism and spectrum disorders, plus a better understanding of human emotions and the neurobiology of mood. Neuroscientists predict future brain signatures will help experts diagnose and treat a range of mental and physical health conditions. The science is also a significant advance on biomarking that can help researchers develop new therapies for people with mood disorders such as anxiety or depression that can improve workplace performance. What other secrets can the brain signature procedure unearth about our inner workings? Will it eventually find a place in today’s work cultures, identifying the best qualified candidates for certain positions based on their unique signatures? Or even predict the way in which promotions are rewarded or teams are formed? Or to reduce absenteeism and help employees heal quicker from mental and physical health issues so they can enjoy longer, healthier and more productive career trajectories? Stay tuned.
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