Rethinking Measures of Functional Connectivity via Feature Extraction
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based functional connectivity (FC) commonly characterizes the functional connections in the brain. Conventional quantification of FC by Pearson's correlation captures linear, time-domain dependencies among blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals. We examined measures to quantify FC by investigating: (i) Is Pearson's correlation sufficient to characterize FC? (ii) Can alternative measures better quantify FC? (iii) What are the implications of using alternative FC measures? FMRI analysis in healthy adult population suggested that: (i) Pearson's correlation cannot comprehensively capture BOLD inter-dependencies. (ii) Eight alternative FC measures were similarly consistent between task and resting-state fMRI, improved age-based classification and provided better association with behavioral outcomes. (iii) Formulated hypotheses were: first, in lieu of Pearson’s correlation, an augmented, composite and multi-metric definition of FC is more appropriate; second, canonical large-scale brain networks may depend on the chosen FC measure. A thorough notion of FC promises better understanding of variations within a given population.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 28, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41598-020-57915-w
Entities
People
- Rosaleena Mohanty
- Veena A. Nair
- Vivek Prabhakaran
- William A. Sethares
Organizations
- American Heart Association
- United States Department of Defense