Reevaluating Specificity in Neuroimaging: Implications for the Salience Network and Methodological Rigor

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Costa, Tommaso, Cauda, Franco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Costa, Tommaso
Cauda, Franco
author_facet Costa, Tommaso
Cauda, Franco
contents The accurate assessment of neuroimaging specificity is critical for advancing our understanding of brain disorders. Current methodologies often rely on frequentist approaches and limited cross-pathology comparisons, leading to potential overestimations of specificity. This study critiques these limitations, highlighting the inherent shortcomings of frequentist methods in specificity calculations and the necessity of comprehensive control conditions. Through a review of the Bayesian framework, we demonstrate its superiority in evaluating specificity by incorporating probabilistic modeling and robust reverse inference. The work also emphasizes the pivotal role of well-defined control conditions in mitigating overlap among brain pathologies, particularly within shared networks like the salience network. By applying Bayesian tools such as BACON (Bayes fACtor mOdeliNg), we validate the ability to derive disease-specific patterns, contrasting these with the narrower findings of frequentist analyses. This paper underscores the importance of Bayesian methodologies and extensive meta-analytic datasets in overcoming existing challenges, ultimately paving the way for more precise neuroimaging studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_02568
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reevaluating Specificity in Neuroimaging: Implications for the Salience Network and Methodological Rigor
Costa, Tommaso
Cauda, Franco
Methodology
The accurate assessment of neuroimaging specificity is critical for advancing our understanding of brain disorders. Current methodologies often rely on frequentist approaches and limited cross-pathology comparisons, leading to potential overestimations of specificity. This study critiques these limitations, highlighting the inherent shortcomings of frequentist methods in specificity calculations and the necessity of comprehensive control conditions. Through a review of the Bayesian framework, we demonstrate its superiority in evaluating specificity by incorporating probabilistic modeling and robust reverse inference. The work also emphasizes the pivotal role of well-defined control conditions in mitigating overlap among brain pathologies, particularly within shared networks like the salience network. By applying Bayesian tools such as BACON (Bayes fACtor mOdeliNg), we validate the ability to derive disease-specific patterns, contrasting these with the narrower findings of frequentist analyses. This paper underscores the importance of Bayesian methodologies and extensive meta-analytic datasets in overcoming existing challenges, ultimately paving the way for more precise neuroimaging studies.
title Reevaluating Specificity in Neuroimaging: Implications for the Salience Network and Methodological Rigor
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.02568