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Optimization of Blocked Designs in FMRI Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Bärbel Maus ,
Gerard J. P. van Breukelen ,
Rainer Goebel  and
Martijn P. F. Berger
Bärbel Maus*
Affiliation:
Maastricht University
Gerard J. P. van Breukelen
Affiliation:
Maastricht University
Rainer Goebel
Affiliation:
Maastricht University
Martijn P. F. Berger
Affiliation:
Maastricht University
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Bärbel Maus, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Department of Methodology and Statistics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands. E-mail: baerbel.maus@stat.unimaas.nl
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Abstract

Blocked designs in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are useful to localize functional brain areas. A blocked design consists of different blocks of trials of the same stimulus type and is characterized by three factors: the length of blocks, i.e., number of trials per blocks, the ordering of task and rest blocks, and the time between trials within one block. Optimal design theory was applied to find the optimal combination of these three design factors. Furthermore, different error structures were used within a general linear model for the analysis of fMRI data, and the maximin criterion was applied to find designs which are robust against misspecification of model parameters.

Keywords

blocked designfMRIoptimal designefficiencymaximin
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 373 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 The Psychometric Society

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