Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 9(11), p. e0161702, 2016
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161702
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In this research we have analyzed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals of different networks in the brain under resting state condition. To such end, the dynamics of signal variation, have been conceived as a stochastic motion, namely it has been modelled through a generalized Langevin stochastic differential equation, which combines a deterministic drift component with a stochastic component where the Gaussian noise source has been replaced with α-stable noise. The parameters of the deterministic and stochastic parts of the model have been fitted from fluctuating data. Results show that the deterministic part is characterized by a simple, linear decreasing trend, and, most important, the α-stable noise, at varying characteristic index α, is the source of a spectrum of activity modes across the networks, from those originated by classic Gaussian noise (α = 2), to longer tailed behaviors generated by the more general Lévy noise (1 ≤ α