[Eeglablist] Open collaboration project: Multi-model Anatomical Grouping of Independent Components (MMAGIC)

Wed Sep 16 08:57:08 PDT 2026

Hi Sarvenaz and those who are interested in the project,

Could you please let me know what the best next step would be?

This is like a rehabilitation for the much bigger 1/f project. This project
is mostly engineering focused, so the goal should be much more
straightforward.

I created the Github Discussion for this project.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/MakotoMiyakoshi/MMAGIC/discussions/1__;!!Mih3wA!CPNiVjiaPfYU-roxpu1TWWddJNzFrnEyEVVeLaDNaXVJD0zJkWtk8SFJTYpNELsxWnHv_r_sn0cFkDoocpCjiqWibNw$ 

The next steps are:

   1. Let's start with eLORETA. Apply eLORETA to each IC. The ICs already
   come with ICLabel-generated classification results.
   2. Characterize the spatial distribution of each IC source. Calculate
   its center of mass, or an equivalent reasonable spatial summary. Evaluate
   the goodness of fit of the reconstructed source model (probably 'residual
   variance' is still useful here)

I'm open to method suggestions and criticisms.

Makoto

On Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 11:47 AM Sarvenaz Changizi <
sarvenaz.changizi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Makoto,
>
>
> Thank you very much for your detailed, clear, and encouraging response.
> The project sounds genuinely fascinating, and I would be very happy to
> contribute as an alpha user by applying the developed method to empirical
> EEG data, evaluating its outputs, and providing feedback throughout the
> development process. I would also be glad to contribute to the validation,
> interpretation, documentation, and manuscript preparation wherever useful.
>
>
> I have previous experience working with and contributing to the analysis
> of EEG/ERP data using EEGLAB. My research also involves designing
> experimental psychology tasks, and I am quite familiar with Python and
> programming-oriented research workflows. Therefore, I would be very
> interested in expanding my knowledge of the relevant dipole and distributed
> source models and engaging with the technical aspects of the project.
>
>
> It was also a lovely surprise to hear that Marjan is based in Tehran—I am
> Iranian and originally from Tehran as well! So, although I would be joining
> from Valencia, the team would actually be gaining another Tehran
> connection. :) I imagine that this shared background could make it
> especially easy and enjoyable for Marjan and me to communicate and
> collaborate.
>
>
> Could you please let me know what the best next step would be? Is there
> already a separate mailing list, group, shared repository, or communication
> channel for the collaborators? I would be very happy if you could connect
> me with Marjan—perhaps by copying us both on an introductory email—and let
> me know how the team plans to coordinate the work.
>
>
> Thank you again for taking the time to answer all my questions so
> thoroughly. I am genuinely excited about the possibility of joining the
> collaboration and contributing to the project.
>
>
> Best wishes,
> Sarvenaz
>
>
>
>
>
> On 16 Sep 2026, at 17:32, Makoto Miyakoshi via eeglablist <
> eeglablist at sccn.ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Sarvenaz,
>
> Thank you for your questions. Here are my answers. Psychology/cognitive
> science research skills would not be very helpful in the core development
> phase. It's rather engineering focused. But you can be an alpha user,
> applying the developed method to empirical data, which deserves authorship.
>
>   -
>
>   What specific tasks and priorities do you currently envisage, especially
>   for contributors working on empirical validation and statistical
> evaluation?
>
> We will develop a Matlab application that takes .set data as inputs and
> some figures and numbers as outputs. The core function may only take
> EEG.icawinv and EEG.chanlocs.
>
>   -
>
>   Would validation involve datasets and analysis pipelines provided by the
>   team, public datasets, or contributors’ own data?
>
> Validation using empirical EEG data datasets would be nice but not
> mandatory.
>
>   -
>
>   What technical background would you expect for these contributions, and
>   which tools and source-localization workflows would be used?
>
> Knowledge of what ICA does and how it works, current dipole models and
> various distributed source models. Experience in coding in Matlab and using
> your favorite AI tools.
>
>   -
>
>   How would the collaboration be coordinated, and what timeline and time
>   commitment do you anticipate? I am based in Valencia and would be
>   interested in collaborating remotely.
>
> Email and Zoom. No timeline unless Marjan has one. Location wise, I'm in
> Cincinnati, Ohio. Marjan is in Tehran. Cedric is in California. Joining
> from Valencia would be nice!
>
>   -
>
>   What outputs are you aiming for, such as a software release or
>   methodological paper, and how do you envisage contributor credit and
>   authorship?
>
> A paper and a Matlab application. The order of the authors is Marjan,
> Cedric, ...., Ilaria, Makoto, unless Marjan decides not to take the first.
> My assumption is that Marjan takes the lead. We aim for NeuroImage, Human
> Brain Mapping, Imaging Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience,
> Journal of Neuroscience Method, Frontiers in things, etc.. If you know any
> other good EEG methodology journals, please let me know. Maybe IEEE also
> works.
>
> The application could be transplanted to Python if someone is interested in
> taking the lead.
>
> Makoto
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 15, 2026 at 8:54 PM Sarvenaz Changizi <
> sarvenaz.changizi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Makoto,
>
>
> Thank you for sharing this invitation. Your proposal to use anatomical ROI
>
> membership as a common framework across subjects and source-localization
>
> methods sounds very interesting, and I would like to explore the
>
> possibility of contributing.
>
>
> I am a PhD candidate in psychology at the Universitat de València, Spain,
>
> based at ERI-Lectura. My research focuses on reading, visual word
>
> recognition, and psycholinguistics, and involves experimental design and
>
> statistical modeling. I also have hands-on experience with EEG/ERP data
>
> acquisition and have contributed to data analysis using EEGLAB in two
>
> research projects.
>
>
> Areas where I could contribute include empirical validation using EEG/ERP
>
> data, methodological input on validation design, statistical evaluation and
>
> comparison of results across approaches, and scientific interpretation,
>
> documentation, and manuscript preparation.
>
>
> Could you please share more about what you have in mind for the
>
> collaboration? In particular, I would appreciate clarification on the
>
> following:
>
>
>   -
>
>
>   What specific tasks and priorities do you currently envisage,
>
>   especially for contributors working on empirical validation and
> statistical
>
>   evaluation?
>
>   -
>
>
>   Would validation involve datasets and analysis pipelines provided by
>
>   the team, public datasets, or contributors’ own data?
>
>   -
>
>
>   What technical background would you expect for these contributions,
>
>   and which tools and source-localization workflows would be used?
>
>   -
>
>
>   How would the collaboration be coordinated, and what timeline and time
>
>   commitment do you anticipate? I am based in Valencia and would be
>
>   interested in collaborating remotely.
>
>   -
>
>
>   What outputs are you aiming for, such as a software release or
>
>   methodological paper, and how do you envisage contributor credit and
>
>   authorship?
>
>
> I would be happy to share my CV and discuss where my background could be
>
> most useful to the project.
>
>
>
> Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing more about your plans.
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Sarvenaz Changizi
>
>
>
> PhD Candidate in Psychology
>
> ERI-Lectura, Universitat de València
>
> Valencia, Spain
>
>
>
>
> On 16 Sep 2026, at 00:02, Makoto Miyakoshi via eeglablist <
>
> eeglablist at sccn.ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Marjan and list,
>
>
> I'd like to propose a small open collaboration project.
>
>
> The idea is that we want to use anatomical ROI membership as a common
>
> coordinate across subjects, instead of relying on conventional IC
>
> clustering approach in EEGLAB STUDY. In the proposed approach, users
>
> specify an anatomical ROI, optionally with a distance tolerance, and ICs
>
> whose source models fall within that region are collected across subjects.
>
> In this implementation, anatomical ROI membership replaces IC clustering as
>
> the cross-subject correspondence rule.
>
>
> Here is a prototype I originally developed for a project with Ilaria
>
> Berteletti, which uses standard current dipole models. Although we
>
> ultimately did not use it in that study, I can tell you it worked better
>
> than I thought.
>
>
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/MakotoMiyakoshi/MMAGIC__;!!Mih3wA!AoKTTZuSu2CVqhzgmxuMpdjqVNFyIVR-LQZYBeLZwVRfqta0reT9bYiTM3uHevgACv2_Bf8HE91bDX8kg7QX9GoBaAI$
>
> <
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/MakotoMiyakoshi/AnatomicalROIGroupICA__;!!Mih3wA!AoKTTZuSu2CVqhzgmxuMpdjqVNFyIVR-LQZYBeLZwVRfqta0reT9bYiTM3uHevgACv2_Bf8HE91bDX8kg7QXcKIZKQg$
>
>
>
> I cleaned the implementation to publish here and tested it on real
>
> ICA/DIPFIT datasets; details are available in the repository.
>
>
> However, my recent work (under review) showed that more than 80% of the
>
> pre-qualified brain ICs by IC Label were localized deeper than
>
> physiologically plausible cortical source depths:
>
>
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.23.26344529v2__;!!Mih3wA!AoKTTZuSu2CVqhzgmxuMpdjqVNFyIVR-LQZYBeLZwVRfqta0reT9bYiTM3uHevgACv2_Bf8HE91bDX8kg7QXDaIe1jw$
>
>
> So it's time to try different cortex-constrained source estimates such as
>
> MNE, the LORETA family, LCMV, or other methods. The results can then be
>
> compared within a common anatomical ROI space. Hence MMAGIC: Multi-model
>
> Anatomical Grouping of Independent Components.
>
>
> Marjan and I would like to develop this into a methodological/software
>
> project. If anyone is interested in contributing a source-localization
>
> method, atlas-mapping approach, validation with empirical data, or
>
> methodological idea, you are welcome to join us. Please let us know.
>
>
> Makoto
>
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