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False positives in functional near-infrared topography.

Ilias Tachtsidis1, Terence S Leung, Anchal Chopra

  • 1Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, Malet Place Engineering Building, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|February 21, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Functional cranial near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be affected by systemic physiological changes. New statistical methods are needed to accurately interpret brain activation during cognitive tasks, avoiding false positives.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Physiology
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Functional cranial near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measures cortical haemodynamic changes using light absorption by oxy- and deoxy-haemoglobin.
  • fNIRS is widely applied to study brain activity during various cognitive tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To map frontal cortex (FC) and motor cortex (MC) haemodynamic responses during anagram solving using optical topography.
  • To investigate the influence of systemic physiological variables on fNIRS measurements during cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

  • 22 healthy adults performed anagram tasks (4-, 6-, 8-letter words).
  • An optical topography system monitored haemodynamics in FC and MC.
  • Systemic physiology (blood pressure, heart rate, scalp flux) was simultaneously recorded.

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Main Results:

  • 12 subjects showed significant systemic physiological changes during the task.
  • Simple statistical analysis (Student's t-test) of haemoglobin changes failed to differentiate cortical activation from systemic interference.
  • This resulted in false positive haemodynamic activation maps.

Conclusions:

  • Standard statistical analysis of fNIRS data is insufficient when systemic changes occur.
  • Accurate interpretation of brain activation requires statistical methods that account for systemic physiological interference.
  • Future studies must incorporate systemic monitoring and advanced statistical approaches for reliable fNIRS results.