Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27357684›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2016

Cluster failure: Why fMRI inferences for spatial extent have inflated false-positive rates.

Anders Eklund, Thomas E Nichols, Hans Knutsson

Erratum issued 2 registry-linked trialsAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 1,790 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1,790citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03766191 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2019, after this paper: background citation

The Relation of Genetic Factors, Food Cues, and Self-Regulation With Excess Consumption and Adiposity in Children

TypeinterventionalSponsorTrustees of Dartmouth CollegeRan2019 to 2024Enrolled189ConditionsChildhood ObesityArmsFood Ads, Non-food Ads
NCT05444907 recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2021, after this paper: background citation

Understanding Deep Brain Stimulation-induced Mania: Finding Potential Predictors to Optimize Treatment

TypeobservationalSponsorAlbino MaiaRan2021 to 2025Enrolled100ConditionsMania, Parkinson DiseaseArmsNo Intervention / Exposure
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1,790 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  8. Semantic encoding of trauma memories in the hippocampus among individuals with PTSD.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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1,730 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Anders EklundDivision of Medical Informatics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, S-581 85 Linköping, Sweden; Division of Statistics and Machine Learning, Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden; Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden; anders.eklund@liu.se.
Thomas E NicholsDepartment of Statistics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; WMG, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
Hans KnutssonDivision of Medical Informatics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, S-581 85 Linköping, Sweden; Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden;

Funding

Mapping the Human Connectome: Structure, Function, and HeritabilityU54MH091657 · NIMH · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI UGURBIL, KAMIL, VAN ESSEN, DAVID C · 2010 to 2014
$34.7M
NIMH NIH HHS U54 MH091657Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The most widely used task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses use parametric statistical methods that depend on a variety of assumptions. In this work, we use real resting-state data and a total of 3 million random task group analyses to compute empirical familywise error rates for the fMRI software packages SPM, FSL, and AFNI, as well as a nonparametric permutation method. For a nominal familywise error rate of 5%, the parametric statistical methods are shown to be conservative for voxelwise inference and invalid for clusterwise inference. Our results suggest that the principal cause of the invalid cluster inferences is spatial autocorrelation functions that do not follow the assumed Gaussian shape. By comparison, the nonparametric permutation test is found to produce nominal results for voxelwise as well as clusterwise inference. These findings speak to the need of validating the statistical methods being used in the field of neuroimaging.

Indexed as

Functional NeuroimagingMagnetic Resonance ImagingFalse Positive ReactionsHumansStatistics as Topiccluster inferencefalse positivesfMRIpermutation teststatistics

Identifiers

PMID27357684
PMCPMC4948312

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.