[EXAMPLE] Positive-negative mode link between functional connectivity, behavior, and demographics

[jessicabartley]

Research Question(s)

What is the high-dimensional relationship between whole-brain functional connectivity and subject measures of cognition, behavior, demographics, and environment?

Can a predominant mode of covariation between functional connectivity and subject measures map onto a 'positive-negative' axis that link subject measures onto a pattern of connectivity?

Description

The intention of this project is to conceptually replicate findings from Smith et al. (2015), where the authors used canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and data from the Human Connectome Project to find a single mode that relates subject measures to patterns of functional connectivity. Further, the primary CCA mode could be mapped onto a one-dimensional 'positive-negative' axis where positive personal qualities (e.g., high performance on cognitive assessments) were positively correlated with the mode and negative personal qualities (e.g., substance use) were negatively correlated with the mode.

The proposed project will use methods as similar as possible to Smith et al. (2015) in order to conceptually replicate their findings in the more heterogeneous ABCD dataset. This includes preparing the subject measure data (cleaning and scaling as necessary), and generating subject-wise whole-brain functional connectomes for input into the CCA. It also includes mapping the results of the CCA back onto individual subject measures and functional connections.

Keywords

Canonical correlation analysis
Functional connectivity
Brain-behavior relationship
Replication

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This example project proposal, originally submitted by @dmoracze in 2021, was derived from the following registered report:
The positive-negative mode link between brain connectivity, demographics, and behavior: A pre-registered, replication of Smith et al. (2015)