scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Striving toward translation: strategies for reliable fMRI measurement

01 Sep 2021-Trends in Cognitive Sciences (Elsevier)-Vol. 25, Iss: 9, pp 776-787
TL;DR: The authors argue that many fMRI measures are unreliable because they were designed to identify group effects, not to precisely quantify individual differences, and highlight four emerging strategies (extended aggregation, reliability modeling, multi-echo fMRI (ME-fMRI), and stimulus design) that build on established psychometric properties to generate more precise and reliable FMRI measures.
About: This article is published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.The article was published on 2021-09-01. It has received 29 citations till now.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , a large sample of 1858 typically developing children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study was used to show that predictive network features are distinct across the domains of cognitive performance, personality scores and mental health assessments.
Abstract: How individual differences in brain network organization track behavioral variability is a fundamental question in systems neuroscience. Recent work suggests that resting-state and task-state functional connectivity can predict specific traits at the individual level. However, most studies focus on single behavioral traits, thus not capturing broader relationships across behaviors. In a large sample of 1858 typically developing children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, we show that predictive network features are distinct across the domains of cognitive performance, personality scores and mental health assessments. On the other hand, traits within each behavioral domain are predicted by similar network features. Predictive network features and models generalize to other behavioral measures within the same behavioral domain. Although tasks are known to modulate the functional connectome, predictive network features are similar between resting and task states. Overall, our findings reveal shared brain network features that account for individual variation within broad domains of behavior in childhood.

52 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors examined within-session reliability and long-term stability of individual differences in task-fMRI measures using fMRI measures of brain activation provided by the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) Study Release v4.

23 citations

Posted ContentDOI
06 May 2021-bioRxiv
TL;DR: In this article, the reliability of human brain network measurements of individual differences under different analytical strategies using the test-retest design of the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from the Human Connectome Project was investigated.
Abstract: A rapidly emerging application of network neuroscience in neuroimaging studies has provided useful tools to understand individual differences in complex brain function. However, the variability of methodologies applied across studies - with respect to node definition, edge construction, and graph measurements-makes it difficult to directly compare findings and also challenging for end users to select the optimal strategies for mapping individual differences in brain networks. Here, we aim to provide a benchmark for best practices by systematically comparing the reliability of human brain network measurements of individual differences under different analytical strategies using the test-retest design of the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from the Human Connectome Project. The results uncovered four essential principles to guide reliable network neuroscience of individual differences: 1) use a whole brain parcellation to define network nodes, including subcortical and cerebellar regions, 2) construct functional connectome using spontaneous brain activity in multiple slow bands, 3) optimize topological economy of networks at individual level, 4) characterise information flow with metrics of integration and segregation.

10 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, the authors found significant hyperreactivity in the left amygdala to emotional faces and scenes in individuals with current depressive disorders, but this was only found when aggregating positive and negative stimuli.
Abstract: Depressive disorders are a leading cause of global disability, afflicting approximately 280 million individuals worldwide each year (1). In the United States, more than one in five individuals will experience a lifetime depressive disorder, diagnoses and service utilization are surging, and direct health care costs exceed $68 billion annually (2–6). These unfortunate observations underscore the need to develop a better understanding of the neural systems that underlie depression. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a heterogeneous phenotype that typically emerges in late adolescence or early adulthood (7, 8). Clinical presentation can be transient or recurrent, with periods of waxing and waning impairment and distress. Comorbidity with anxiety disorders, substance misuse, and other illnesses is common (9, 10). Given this phenotypic, developmental, and—in all likelihood—etiological complexity, it is unsurprising that neuroimaging studies of MDD have implicated a diverse array of brain regions, including the amygdala, ventral striatum, thalamus, and cingulate (11, 12). Among the regions linked to depression, the amygdala has received some of the most intense empirical scrutiny. This body of research has led many to conclude that amygdala hyperreactivity confers increased risk for MDD and other, often co-occurring internalizing illnesses (13). This hypothesis reflects three lines of evidence. First, moderately large cross-sectional studies of youth and young adults (sample sizes of 72–1,042 [14–17]) suggest that amygdala function—including heightened reactivity and elevated resting activity—is most consistently associated with internalizing risk (e.g., familial, temperamental), not the severity of acute symptoms. Moreover, prospective longitudinal work (N5340 [18]) shows that heightened amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry faces is associated with the future emergence of self-reported mood and anxiety symptoms in young adults (controlling for baseline symptoms). Yet this prospective association is notably selective and only manifests among individuals exposed to negative life events (NLEs) during the followup period (i.e., Amygdala3NLEs→Internalizing). Ancillary analyses show that this prospective association is 1) numerically greater for negative (“threat-related”) than neutral faces; 2) significant in both hemispheres (albeit more strongly in the right); and 3) significant for anhedonia (e.g., nothing interesting/fun) and anxious apprehension (e.g., nervous), but not depressive affect (e.g., sad, depressed) or anxious arousal (e.g., racing heart). While conceptually important and statistically significant (p50.002), this association is far too small to be practically useful (d50.34, R52.7%), a point we return to later. Second, clinically effective mood and anxiety treatments (e.g., SSRIs) dampen amygdala reactivity to negative faces and aversive challenges, consistent with a causal role (19). Third, three recent coordinate-based meta-analyses (CBMAs)—all adhering to methodological best practices and collectively encompassing dozens of studies and thousands of participants—provide convergent evidence of left amygdala hyperreactivity in individuals with MDD (11, 20, 21). Despite this progress, it is clear that most of the work necessary to understand the nature and degree of the amygdala’s contribution to depression remains undone. Consider theCBMAevidence.Toensureanadequatenumber of studies, all of the meta-analytic teams were forced to engage in substantial “lumping,” and their results reflect a mixture of adults and youth, medicated and unmedicated cases, and a panoply of emotional and cognitive tasks. Janiri and colleagues found evidence of left amygdala hyperreactivity, but this was only evident at a liberal threshold, and onlywhen pooling studies of MDD and anxiety (21). Li and Wang reported significant hyperreactivity in the left amygdala to emotional faces and scenes in individuals with current depressive disorders, but this was only foundwhen aggregating positive and negative stimuli (11). In themost comprehensive analysis, McTeague and colleagues observed significant hyperreactivity in the left amygdala to emotional stimuli in individuals with interview-verified MDD or anxiety diagnoses (20). Ancillary analyses suggested that these effects were largely driven by studies of negative faces and scenes (20, 21). While these results clearly show that left amygdala reactivity to negative stimuli is elevated, on average at least, among individuals with MDD, it remains unclear whether this association reflects differences in the perception of negative faces, the generation of negative affect to aversive stimuli (e.g., unpleasant scenes, threat of shock), or some combination of the two (22). Tamm and colleagues’ report serves as a sober reminder that simple boxand-arrow neurobiological explanations...are no longer tenable.

10 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , an individualized network-based dynamic analysis technique was proposed for detecting subject-specific brain states during both resting state and a cognitively challenging language task, and the extent to which brain states show hemispheric asymmetries and how various phenotypic factors such as handedness and gender might influence network dynamics.
Abstract: A confluence of evidence indicates that brain functional connectivity is not static but rather dynamic. Capturing transient network interactions in the individual brain requires a technology that offers sufficient within-subject reliability. Here, we introduce an individualized network-based dynamic analysis technique and demonstrate that it is reliable in detecting subject-specific brain states during both resting state and a cognitively challenging language task. We evaluate the extent to which brain states show hemispheric asymmetries and how various phenotypic factors such as handedness and gender might influence network dynamics, discovering a right-lateralized brain state that occurred more frequently in men than in women and more frequently in right-handed versus left-handed individuals. Longitudinal brain state changes were also shown in 42 patients with subcortical stroke over 6 months. Our approach could quantify subject-specific dynamic brain states and has potential for use in both basic and clinical neuroscience research.

7 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest the need for greater care in dealing with subject motion, and the need to critically revisit previous rs-fcMRI work that may not have adequately controlled for effects of transient subject movements.

6,411 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that the average statistical power of studies in the neurosciences is very low, and the consequences include overestimates of effect size and low reproducibility of results.
Abstract: A study with low statistical power has a reduced chance of detecting a true effect, but it is less well appreciated that low power also reduces the likelihood that a statistically significant result reflects a true effect. Here, we show that the average statistical power of studies in the neurosciences is very low. The consequences of this include overestimates of effect size and low reproducibility of results. There are also ethical dimensions to this problem, as unreliable research is inefficient and wasteful. Improving reproducibility in neuroscience is a key priority and requires attention to well-established but often ignored methodological principles.

5,683 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Aug 2015-Science
TL;DR: A large-scale assessment suggests that experimental reproducibility in psychology leaves a lot to be desired, and correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams.
Abstract: Reproducibility is a defining feature of science, but the extent to which it characterizes current research is unknown. We conducted replications of 100 experimental and correlational studies published in three psychology journals using high-powered designs and original materials when available. Replication effects were half the magnitude of original effects, representing a substantial decline. Ninety-seven percent of original studies had statistically significant results. Thirty-six percent of replications had statistically significant results; 47% of original effect sizes were in the 95% confidence interval of the replication effect size; 39% of effects were subjectively rated to have replicated the original result; and if no bias in original results is assumed, combining original and replication results left 68% with statistically significant effects. Correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams.

5,532 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Aug 2005-Chance
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research and conclude that the probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientifi c fi eld.
Abstract: Summary There is increasing concern that most current published research fi ndings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientifi c fi eld. In this framework, a research fi nding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a fi eld are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater fl exibility in designs, defi nitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater fi nancial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientifi c fi eld in chase of statistical signifi cance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientifi c fi elds, claimed research fi ndings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research. It can be proven that most claimed research fi ndings are false.

4,999 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a series of images were acquired continuously with the same imaging pulse sequence (either gradient echo or spin-echo inversion recovery) during task activation, and a significant increase in signal intensity (paired t test; P less than 0.001) of 1.8% +/- 0.9% was observed in the primary visual cortex (V1) of seven normal volunteers.
Abstract: Neuronal activity causes local changes in cerebral blood flow, blood volume, and blood oxygenation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques sensitive to changes in cerebral blood flow and blood oxygenation were developed by high-speed echo planar imaging. These techniques were used to obtain completely noninvasive tomographic maps of human brain activity, by using visual and motor stimulus paradigms. Changes in blood oxygenation were detected by using a gradient echo (GE) imaging sequence sensitive to the paramagnetic state of deoxygenated hemoglobin. Blood flow changes were evaluated by a spin-echo inversion recovery (IR), tissue relaxation parameter T1-sensitive pulse sequence. A series of images were acquired continuously with the same imaging pulse sequence (either GE or IR) during task activation. Cine display of subtraction images (activated minus baseline) directly demonstrates activity-induced changes in brain MR signal observed at a temporal resolution of seconds. During 8-Hz patterned-flash photic stimulation, a significant increase in signal intensity (paired t test; P less than 0.001) of 1.8% +/- 0.8% (GE) and 1.8% +/- 0.9% (IR) was observed in the primary visual cortex (V1) of seven normal volunteers. The mean rise-time constant of the signal change was 4.4 +/- 2.2 s for the GE images and 8.9 +/- 2.8 s for the IR images. The stimulation frequency dependence of visual activation agrees with previous positron emission tomography observations, with the largest MR signal response occurring at 8 Hz. Similar signal changes were observed within the human primary motor cortex (M1) during a hand squeezing task and in animal models of increased blood flow by hypercapnia. By using intrinsic blood-tissue contrast, functional MRI opens a spatial-temporal window onto individual brain physiology.

4,138 citations