GLM modelling / Statistics Flashcards

1
Q

What is the objective of ordinary least squares?

A

Minimize the sume of squared errors

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2
Q

How is OLS achieved?

OLS = ordinary least sqaures

A

Because the residual vector and the vector describing the modelled signal must be orthogonal to each other geometrically, we can state, that the transpostion of the residual and each column (=regressor; p) of X must be 0.

-> as the residual is the same as the differense between the actual and the modelled signal, we can insert this term and then perform some calculations on this term.

-> the result is, that the ß (regressor coefficient for each) regressor (p) can be calculated by multiplying the inverse transposition of X and why with the transposition of X and X

Mathematically the last part is equivalent to dividing the covariance of X and Y with the covaraince of X and X!

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3
Q

What are two typical contrast typed in GLM modelling?

A

t-contrast and F-contrast

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4
Q

Name 5 problems that can occur in statistical analysis with fMRI data.

A
  1. Low frequency drifts
  2. Model is not convolved with HRF
  3. Residual movement effects
  4. Serial autocorrelation
  5. Multiple comparisions
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5
Q

What are the steps of statistical analysis?

A
  1. model specification
  2. model estimation
  3. statistical inference
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6
Q

What is a stimulus function?

A

It is a sign function that returns 1 when a the subject was in a certain experimental conditiom, 0 in other conditions

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7
Q

What would be a naive (heuristic) model?

A

measured signal = variation at condition 1 * weight + variation at condition 2 * weight + baseline signal + noise

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8
Q

How does a naive parametre estimation work?

A

It will be comparison between measured and modelled signal => search for best-fit parameters

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9
Q

How to assess statistical inference

in a naive way, of course

A

subtract condition 2 from condition 1

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10
Q

What are the ideas behind multiple linear regression models?

A
  • generalize two-condition model to multiple linear regression with arbitrary number of predictors/regressors
  • make some assumptions about errors/noise
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11
Q

What does GLM do?

A

GLM decomposes BOLD signal measured from a voxel to
- variation coming from experimental conditions (controlled factors) and potential confounds, weighted by a vector, and
- noise (cannot be decomposed)

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12
Q

What is the vector of residuals?

Explain in a geometrical sense

A

Vector of residuals is the shortest distance between hyperplane spanned by design matrix and actually measured signal (modelled signal and residual errors are orthogonal)

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13
Q

What is the low-frequency drift problem and how to tackle it?

A

Problem: Slow trends in the measured fMRI signal undermining the accuracy of model estimation
Solution: A discrete cosine transform set regressed out of the signal (temporal filtering)

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14
Q

What is the hemodynamic response problem and how to tackle it?

A

Problem: fMRI responses do not have a rectangular shape
Solution: Stimulus functions are convolved with the hemodynamic response function to give rise to a more realistic prediction of measure fMRI signal (stimulus function * HRF = actual regressor)

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15
Q

What is the residual movement effects problem and how to tackle it?

A

Problem: Despite spatial realignment, there are still movement artefacts in the signal, esp. at tissue boundaries
Solution: We include realignment parameters as regressors in the design matrix of the GLM

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16
Q

What is the serial auto-correlations problem and how to tackle it?

A

Problem: Consecutive fMRI scans are not statistically independent (fMRI has serial correlation due to slow hemodynamic response and biological factors)
Solution: An auto-regressive model of order one is fit to account for serial correlations (an independent and identically distributed noise model is replaced by an enhanced noise model)

17
Q

What is the multiple comparisons problem and how to tackle it?

A

Problem: When running many parallel statistical tests, there will be a large number of spurious findings (with more tests, the probability of obtaining of positive results decreases)
Solution: Instead of controlling the false-positive rate per test, control the family-wise error (FWE) rate

Gaussian random field theory (RFT): model of the joint distribution of noise across voxels to quantify voxel dependencies -> do not correct for the number of voxels, but for the number of resolution elements (resels < voxels due to smoothing)
(conservative solutions: Bonferroni correction, Sidak correction)

18
Q

What are parametric modulators?

A

Problem: Sometimes, a trial-wise variable possibly influences the BOLD signal (e.g., stimulus intensity).
Solution: Add a parametric modulator regressor describing possible trial-wise effects.

19
Q

What is the second-level GLM? How is it different from the first-level GLM?

A

Problem: Usually, we want to provide evidence for activation differences at the group level (i.e. multi-subject analyses).
Solution: Fit a second-level (across subjects) model over first-level (single subject) contrast maps to obtain group-level statistics.

First-level statistics: single-subject inference, we test whether the mean (difference) across images is different from zero
Second level statistics: population inference, we test whether the mean across subjects is different from zero

20
Q

What GLM is usually used to model and analyze data? What alternatives are there?

A

Usually, we use condition-wise GLM. But we can also use trial-wise GLM or multi-voxel pattern analysis

Trial-wise GLM:
- extends the analysis to the level of individual trials within each condition
- provides a more fine-grained analysis, allowing for the investigation of trial-specific effects or variability within a condition

MVPA:
- focuses on the analysis of patterns of activity across multiple voxels rather than relying solely on average activation levels