Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37116766›Full record

SynthesisNeuroImage2023

Highlight results, don't hide them: Enhance interpretation, reduce biases and improve reproducibility.

Paul A Taylor, Richard C Reynolds, Vince Calhoun, Javier Gonzalez-Castillo, Daniel A Handwerker, Peter A Bandettini, Amanda F Mejia, Gang Chen

Abstract readMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Synthesis in NeuroImage, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
73citing papers in PubMed
–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

73 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. The Hidden Landscape of Missed Effects in Human Functional Neuroimaging.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  7. Addiction biology · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Disrupted Brain Connectivity in Newborns Following Antenatal Opioid Exposure.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026
    Observational
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Alzheimer's Disease Pathologies Affect Dopaminergic Neural Mechanisms of Memory.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. An 18-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET study inBrain communications · 2026
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

8 authors.

Paul A TaylorScientific and Statistical Computing Core, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: paul.taylor@nih.gov.
Richard C ReynoldsScientific and Statistical Computing Core, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Vince CalhounTri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Javier Gonzalez-CastilloSection on Functional Imaging Methods, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Daniel A HandwerkerSection on Functional Imaging Methods, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Peter A BandettiniSection on Functional Imaging Methods, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA; Functional MRI Core Facility, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Amanda F MejiaDepartment of Statistics, Indiana University, IN, USA.
Gang ChenScientific and Statistical Computing Core, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Funding

Functional MRI Method DevelopmentZIAMH002783 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI BANDETTINI, PETER · 2009 to 2025
$38.4M
Scientific and Statistical Computing CoreZICMH002888 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI TAYLOR, PAUL · 2009 to 2025
$30.9M
Bayesian methods for cortical surface neuroimaging dataR01EB027119 · NIBIB · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI MEJIA, AMANDA · 2019 to 2022
$1.8M
Intramural NIH HHS ZIA MH002783Intramural NIH HHS ZIC MH002888NIBIB NIH HHS R01 EB027119
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Most neuroimaging studies display results that represent only a tiny fraction of the collected data. While it is conventional to present "only the significant results" to the reader, here we suggest that this practice has several negative consequences for both reproducibility and understanding. This practice hides away most of the results of the dataset and leads to problems of selection bias and irreproducibility, both of which have been recognized as major issues in neuroimaging studies recently. Opaque, all-or-nothing thresholding, even if well-intentioned, places undue influence on arbitrary filter values, hinders clear communication of scientific results, wastes data, is antithetical to good scientific practice, and leads to conceptual inconsistencies. It is also inconsistent with the properties of the acquired data and the underlying biology being studied. Instead of presenting only a few statistically significant locations and hiding away the remaining results, studies should "highlight" the former while also showing as much as possible of the rest. This is distinct from but complementary to utilizing data sharing repositories: the initial presentation of results has an enormous impact on the interpretation of a study. We present practical examples and extensions of this approach for voxelwise, regionwise and cross-study analyses using publicly available data that was analyzed previously by 70 teams (NARPS; Botvinik-Nezer, et al., 2020), showing that it is possible to balance the goals of displaying a full set of results with providing the reader reasonably concise and "digestible" findings. In particular, the highlighting approach sheds useful light on the kind of variability present among the NARPS teams' results, which is primarily a varied strength of agreement rather than disagreement. Using a meta-analysis built on the informative "highlighting" approach shows this relative agreement, while one using the standard "hiding" approach does not. We describe how this simple but powerful change in practice-focusing on highlighting results, rather than hiding all but the strongest ones-can help address many large concerns within the field, or at least to provide more complete information about them. We include a list of practical suggestions for results reporting to improve reproducibility, cross-study comparisons and meta-analyses.

Indexed as

NeuroimagingBiasHumansReproducibility of ResultsSelection BiasFMRIHighlightReproducibilityResultsVisualization

Identifiers

PMID37116766
PMCPMC10233921

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.