ArticlePLoS computational biology2021
The risks of using the chi-square periodogram to estimate the period of biological rhythms.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Differential effects of sex and age on daily and infradian rhythms of mice.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Behavioral adaptation to warm conditions via Lim1-mediated acceleration of neuronal clocks.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- easyClock: a user-friendly desktop application for circadian rhythm analysis and visualization.BMC bioinformatics · 2025Article
- Normal circadian period length requires repression of Npas2 by REV-ERB nuclear receptors.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Temperature and COScientific reports · 2025Article
- A circadian behavioral analysis suite for real-time classification of daily rhythms in complex behaviors.Cell reports methods · 2025Article
- Light-Modulated Circadian Synaptic Plasticity in the Somatosensory Cortex: Link to Locomotor Activity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- DeepLabCut-based daily behavioural and posture analysis in a cricket.Biology open · 2024Article
- Article
- A transcriptional program underlying the circannual rhythms of gonadal development in medaka.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Reversible suppression of circadian-driven locomotor rhythms in mice using a gradual fragmentation of the day-night cycle.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Modified Wavelet Analyses Permit Quantification of Dynamic Interactions Between Ultradian and Circadian Rhythms.Journal of biological rhythms · 2022Article
- Patterns of activity correlate with symptom severity in major depressive disorder patients.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Magnetic Fluctuations Entrain the Circadian Rhythm of Locomotor Activity in Zebrafish: Can Cryptochrome Be Involved?Biology · 2022Article
- Spontaneous Recovery of Circadian Organization in Mice Lacking a Core Component of the Molecular Clockwork.Journal of biological rhythms · 2022Article
- Optogenetic stimulation of VIPergic SCN neurons induces photoperiodic-like changes in the mammalian circadian clock.The European journal of neuroscience · 2021Article
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Abstract
The chi-square periodogram (CSP), developed over 40 years ago, continues to be one of the most popular methods to estimate the period of circadian (circa 24-h) rhythms. Previous work has indicated the CSP is sometimes less accurate than other methods, but understanding of why and under what conditions remains incomplete. Using simulated rhythmic time-courses, we found that the CSP is prone to underestimating the period in a manner that depends on the true period and the length of the time-course. This underestimation bias is most severe in short time-courses (e.g., 3 days), but is also visible in longer simulated time-courses (e.g., 12 days) and in experimental time-courses of mouse wheel-running and ex vivo bioluminescence. We traced the source of the bias to discontinuities in the periodogram that are related to the number of time-points the CSP uses to calculate the observed variance for a given test period. By revising the calculation to avoid discontinuities, we developed a new version, the greedy CSP, that shows reduced bias and improved accuracy. Nonetheless, even the greedy CSP tended to be less accurate on our simulated time-courses than an alternative method, namely the Lomb-Scargle periodogram. Thus, although our study describes a major improvement to a classic method, it also suggests that users should generally avoid the CSP when estimating the period of biological rhythms.
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