Dataset for Causal parametric language mapping with electrical stimulation during awake neurosurgery

Abstract: Functional mapping with Direct Electrical Stimulation (DES) is widely used during awake neurosurgery to generate causal evidence about person-specific neuroanatomical organization of cognitive abilities. According to longstanding clinical and scientific orthodoxy, if the application of DES to a given brain region does not result in performance errors, that site is considered to not be involved in the task. Here, we show that DES has systematic effects on performance speed, even on correct trials, that can be predicted using fine-grained measures of when DES starts and stops relative to task processing. This approach, Causal Parametric Mapping, provides a framework for functionally dissociating processing stages in the human brain using reversible causal evidence.