Albert Cardona<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://neuromatch.social/@NicoleCRust" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>NicoleCRust</span></a></span> </p><p>In 2015, I attended the first talk ever featuring fMRI where I found the application and results convincing. The talk was by Linda Geerligs and she described her, at the time, recent paper:</p><p>"A brain-wide study of age-related changes in functional connectivity" Geerligs et al. 2015<br>Cerebral cortex 25 (7):1987-99 <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/25/7/1987/462366" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">academic.oup.com/cercor/articl</span><span class="invisible">e/25/7/1987/462366</span></a></p><p>The work focuses on longitudinal studies on humans, studying the same person over the years with fMRI. In her talk, she pointed out that:</p><p>(1) functional networks are not correlated with white matter tracts;<br>(2) there is a strong decline in functional network modularity with age;<br>(3) with age; intramodule connectivity decreases and intermodule connectivity increases;<br>(4) old adults that maintain the highly segregated functional network retain their mental abilities.</p><p>Overall I found the technique well suited to the question. In the first place because the study is longitudinal, comparing subjects to themselves over time. In the second place, because it did not attempt to make statements about specific areas of the brain, but rather, on how the relationships between areas, as far as they could be observed, changed over time within an individual.</p><p>An interesting study from which what we learn is matched to the strengths and limitations of the technique, and which does not attempt to make sweeping statements about the function of specific areas of the brain. At least that's what Geerligs did in her beautiful talk.</p><p>There may be caveats and limitations to the study, but as a non-fMRI specialist, I am unable to see them. Reads humble and as precise as it can be, not more and not less.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://neuromatch.social/@tdverstynen" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>tdverstynen</span></a></span> </p><p><a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/neuroscience" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>neuroscience</span></a> <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/tags/fMRI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fMRI</span></a></p>