fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
theregister.co.uk
fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
1–10 of 192 posts
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#2If this results to be true, this could be one of the most expensive bugs in computer history.
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#3Link to original paper: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/06/27/1602413113.full
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#4"Our results suggest that the principal cause of the invalid cluster inferences is spatial autocorrelation functions that do not follow the assumed Gaussian shape."
In other words, researchers cut corners. You should never assume that something is a certain way without rigorously proving it. How did these papers make it past peer review?
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#5Title should really read "fMRI" instead of "MRI". The referenced journal article is titled "Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates".
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#6"Our results suggest that the principal cause of the invalid cluster inferences is spatial autocorrelation functions that do not follow the assumed Gaussian shape." In other words, researchers cut corners. You should never assume that something is a certain way without rigorously proving it. How did these papers make it past peer review?
They were probably peer-reviewed by biologists, not statisticians. Peer review is mostly just a good think and read for about a month, not a perfect analysis.
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#7It's already been known for several years that almost all MRI brain scan research is wrong, what exactly is new here?
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#8Doesn't sound like a straight up bug, but rather unsound statistical methods which can happen with or without software. You get the same problem with finite element analysis software: the operator has to be aware of all the assumptions baked in, and has to ensure that the input conforms to them.
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#9"Our results suggest that the principal cause of the invalid cluster inferences is spatial autocorrelation functions that do not follow the assumed Gaussian shape." In other words, researchers cut corners. You should never assume that something is a certain way without rigorously proving it. How did these papers make it past peer review?
n=30 ought to be enough for anybody
Re: fMRI software bugs could upend years of research
#10Title should really read "fMRI" instead of "MRI". The referenced journal article is titled "Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates".
The same tools (AFNI, SPM, and FSL) are used in a lot of other MR research protocols as well - not just fMRI.