14,156 research outputs found
Serial Correlations in Single-Subject fMRI with Sub-Second TR
When performing statistical analysis of single-subject fMRI data, serial
correlations need to be taken into account to allow for valid inference.
Otherwise, the variability in the parameter estimates might be under-estimated
resulting in increased false-positive rates. Serial correlations in fMRI data
are commonly characterized in terms of a first-order autoregressive (AR)
process and then removed via pre-whitening. The required noise model for the
pre-whitening depends on a number of parameters, particularly the repetition
time (TR). Here we investigate how the sub-second temporal resolution provided
by simultaneous multislice (SMS) imaging changes the noise structure in fMRI
time series. We fit a higher-order AR model and then estimate the optimal AR
model order for a sequence with a TR of less than 600 ms providing whole brain
coverage. We show that physiological noise modelling successfully reduces the
required AR model order, but remaining serial correlations necessitate an
advanced noise model. We conclude that commonly used noise models, such as the
AR(1) model, are inadequate for modelling serial correlations in fMRI using
sub-second TRs. Rather, physiological noise modelling in combination with
advanced pre-whitening schemes enable valid inference in single-subject
analysis using fast fMRI sequences
Analysis of Dynamic Brain Imaging Data
Modern imaging techniques for probing brain function, including functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, intrinsic and extrinsic contrast optical imaging,
and magnetoencephalography, generate large data sets with complex content. In
this paper we develop appropriate techniques of analysis and visualization of
such imaging data, in order to separate the signal from the noise, as well as
to characterize the signal. The techniques developed fall into the general
category of multivariate time series analysis, and in particular we extensively
use the multitaper framework of spectral analysis. We develop specific
protocols for the analysis of fMRI, optical imaging and MEG data, and
illustrate the techniques by applications to real data sets generated by these
imaging modalities. In general, the analysis protocols involve two distinct
stages: `noise' characterization and suppression, and `signal' characterization
and visualization. An important general conclusion of our study is the utility
of a frequency-based representation, with short, moving analysis windows to
account for non-stationarity in the data. Of particular note are (a) the
development of a decomposition technique (`space-frequency singular value
decomposition') that is shown to be a useful means of characterizing the image
data, and (b) the development of an algorithm, based on multitaper methods, for
the removal of approximately periodic physiological artifacts arising from
cardiac and respiratory sources.Comment: 40 pages; 26 figures with subparts including 3 figures as .gif files.
Originally submitted to the neuro-sys archive which was never publicly
announced (was 9804003
Structure Learning in Coupled Dynamical Systems and Dynamic Causal Modelling
Identifying a coupled dynamical system out of many plausible candidates, each
of which could serve as the underlying generator of some observed measurements,
is a profoundly ill posed problem that commonly arises when modelling real
world phenomena. In this review, we detail a set of statistical procedures for
inferring the structure of nonlinear coupled dynamical systems (structure
learning), which has proved useful in neuroscience research. A key focus here
is the comparison of competing models of (ie, hypotheses about) network
architectures and implicit coupling functions in terms of their Bayesian model
evidence. These methods are collectively referred to as dynamical casual
modelling (DCM). We focus on a relatively new approach that is proving
remarkably useful; namely, Bayesian model reduction (BMR), which enables rapid
evaluation and comparison of models that differ in their network architecture.
We illustrate the usefulness of these techniques through modelling
neurovascular coupling (cellular pathways linking neuronal and vascular
systems), whose function is an active focus of research in neurobiology and the
imaging of coupled neuronal systems
A three domain covariance framework for EEG/MEG data
In this paper we introduce a covariance framework for the analysis of EEG and
MEG data that takes into account observed temporal stationarity on small time
scales and trial-to-trial variations. We formulate a model for the covariance
matrix, which is a Kronecker product of three components that correspond to
space, time and epochs/trials, and consider maximum likelihood estimation of
the unknown parameter values. An iterative algorithm that finds approximations
of the maximum likelihood estimates is proposed. We perform a simulation study
to assess the performance of the estimator and investigate the influence of
different assumptions about the covariance factors on the estimated covariance
matrix and on its components. Apart from that, we illustrate our method on real
EEG and MEG data sets.
The proposed covariance model is applicable in a variety of cases where
spontaneous EEG or MEG acts as source of noise and realistic noise covariance
estimates are needed for accurate dipole localization, such as in evoked
activity studies, or where the properties of spontaneous EEG or MEG are
themselves the topic of interest, such as in combined EEG/fMRI experiments in
which the correlation between EEG and fMRI signals is investigated.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Complex-valued Time Series Modeling for Improved Activation Detection in fMRI Studies
A complex-valued data-based model with th order autoregressive errors and general real/imaginary error covariance structure is proposed as an alternative to the commonly used magnitude-only data-based autoregressive model for fMRI time series. Likelihood-ratio-test-based activation statistics are derived for both models and compared for experimental and simulated data. For a dataset from a right-hand finger-tapping experiment, the activation map obtained using complex-valued modeling more clearly identifies the primary activation region (left functional central sulcus) than the magnitude-only model. Such improved accuracy in mapping the left functional central sulcus has important implications in neurosurgical planning for tumor and epilepsy patients. Additionally, we develop magnitude and phase detrending procedures for complex-valued time series and examine the effect of spatial smoothing. These methods improve the power of complex-valued data-based activation statistics. Our results advocate for the use of the complex-valued data and the modeling of its dependence structures as a more efficient and reliable tool in fMRI experiments over the current practice of using only magnitude-valued datasets
Model estimation of cerebral hemodynamics between blood flow and volume changes: a data-based modeling approach
It is well known that there is a dynamic relationship between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV). With increasing applications of functional MRI, where the blood oxygen-level-dependent signals are recorded, the understanding and accurate modeling of the hemodynamic relationship between CBF and CBV becomes increasingly important. This study presents an empirical and data-based modeling framework for model identification from CBF and CBV experimental data. It is shown that the relationship between the changes in CBF and CBV can be described using a parsimonious autoregressive with exogenous input model structure. It is observed that neither the ordinary least-squares (LS) method nor the classical total least-squares (TLS) method can produce accurate estimates from the original noisy CBF and CBV data. A regularized total least-squares (RTLS) method is thus introduced and extended to solve such an error-in-the-variables problem. Quantitative results show that the RTLS method works very well on the noisy CBF and CBV data. Finally, a combination of RTLS with a filtering method can lead to a parsimonious but very effective model that can characterize the relationship between the changes in CBF and CBV
Fractal analysis of resting state functional connectivity of the brain
A variety of resting state neuroimaging data tend to exhibit fractal behavior
where its power spectrum follows power-law scaling. Resting state functional
connectivity is significantly influenced by fractal behavior which may not
directly originate from neuronal population activities of the brain. To
describe the fractal behavior, we adopted the fractionally integrated process
(FIP) model instead of the fractional Gaussian noise (FGN) since the FIP model
covers more general aspects of fractality than the FGN model. We also introduce
a novel concept called the nonfractal connectivity which is defined as the
correlation of short memory independent of fractal behavior, and compared it
with the fractal connectivity which is an asymptotic wavelet correlation. We
propose several wavelet-based estimators of fractal connectivity and nonfractal
connectivity for a multivariate fractionally integrated noise (mFIN). The
performance of these estimators was evaluated through simulation studies and
the analyses of resting state functional MRI data of the rat brain.Comment: The 2012 International Joint Conference on Neural Network
Multiscale adaptive smoothing models for the hemodynamic response function in fMRI
In the event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data
analysis, there is an extensive interest in accurately and robustly estimating
the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and its associated statistics (e.g.,
the magnitude and duration of the activation). Most methods to date are
developed in the time domain and they have utilized almost exclusively the
temporal information of fMRI data without accounting for the spatial
information. The aim of this paper is to develop a multiscale adaptive
smoothing model (MASM) in the frequency domain by integrating the spatial and
frequency information to adaptively and accurately estimate HRFs pertaining to
each stimulus sequence across all voxels in a three-dimensional (3D) volume. We
use two sets of simulation studies and a real data set to examine the finite
sample performance of MASM in estimating HRFs. Our real and simulated data
analyses confirm that MASM outperforms several other state-of-the-art methods,
such as the smooth finite impulse response (sFIR) model.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/12-AOAS609 the Annals of
Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
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