Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30548734›Full record

SynthesisHuman brain mapping2019

ROI and phobias: The effect of ROI approach on an ALE meta-analysis of specific phobias.

Claudio Gentili, Simone Messerotti Benvenuti, Giada Lettieri, Cristiano Costa, Luca Cecchetti

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Human brain mapping, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 17 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 17 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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 17 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  6. Evidence for domain-general arousal from semantic and neuroimaging meta-analyses reconciles opposing views on arousal.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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  15. Cognitive Neural Mechanism of Social Anxiety Disorder: A Meta-Analysis Based on fMRI Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Claudio GentiliDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-2579-8755
Simone Messerotti BenvenutiDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1430-6807
Giada LettieriIMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-8027-9053
Cristiano CostaDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-5472-546X
Luca CecchettiIMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-5184-6477

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

About 90% of fMRI findings on specific phobias (SP) include analysis of region of interest (ROI). This approach characterized by higher sensitivity may produce inflated results, particularly when findings are aggregated in meta-analytic maps. Here, we conducted a systematic review and activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on SP, testing the impact of the inclusion of ROI-based studies. ALE meta-analyses were carried out either including ROI-based results or focusing on whole-brain voxelwise studies exclusively. To assess the risk of bias in the neuroimaging field, we modified the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and measured the reliability of fMRI findings. Of the 31 selected investigations (564 patients and 485 controls) one-third did not motivate ROI selection: five studies did not report an explicit rationale, whereas four did not cite any specific reference in this regard. Analyses including ROI-based studies revealed differences between phobics and healthy subjects in several regions of the limbic circuit. However, when focusing on whole-brain analysis, only the anterior midcingulate cortex differentiated SP from controls. Notably, 13 studies were labeled with low risk of bias according to the adapted NOS. The inclusion of ROI-based results artificially inflates group differences in fMRI meta-analyses. Moreover, a priori, well-motivated selection of ROIs is desirable to improve quality and reproducibility in SP neuroimaging studies. Lastly, the use of modified NOS may represent a valuable way to assess and evaluate biases in fMRI studies: "low risk" of bias was reported for less than half of the included studies, indicating the need for better practices in fMRI.

Indexed as

BrainBrain MappingHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingPhobic DisordersReproducibility of ResultsALE meta-analysisfMRIphobiasregion of interest

Identifiers

PMID30548734
PMCPMC6865604

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.