Evaluation and statistical inference for human connectomes

Nat Methods. 2014 Oct;11(10):1058-63. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.3098. Epub 2014 Sep 7.

Abstract

Diffusion-weighted imaging coupled with tractography is currently the only method for in vivo mapping of human white-matter fascicles. Tractography takes diffusion measurements as input and produces the connectome, a large collection of white-matter fascicles, as output. We introduce a method to evaluate the evidence supporting connectomes. Linear fascicle evaluation (LiFE) takes any connectome as input and predicts diffusion measurements as output, using the difference between the measured and predicted diffusion signals to quantify the prediction error. We use the prediction error to evaluate the evidence that supports the properties of the connectome, to compare tractography algorithms and to test hypotheses about tracts and connections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Brain Mapping / methods
  • Cognition
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Connectome / methods*
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / physiology*
  • Probability
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software
  • Statistics as Topic