On the Definition of Signal-To-Noise Ratio and Contrast-To-Noise Ratio for fMRI Data

Signal-to-noise ratio, the ratio between signal and noise, is a quantity that has been well established for MRI data but is still subject of ongoing debate and confusion when it comes to fMRI data. fMRI data are characterised by small activation fluctuations in a background of noise. Depending on ho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 8; no. 11; p. e77089
Main Authors Welvaert, Marijke, Rosseel, Yves
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 06.11.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Activation
Algorithms
Background noise
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Computer Simulation
Conversion tables
Data analysis
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
NMR
Noise
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Signal processing
Signal to noise ratio
Standard deviation
Studies
Terminology as Topic
Time series
Variation
Belgium
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Summary:Signal-to-noise ratio, the ratio between signal and noise, is a quantity that has been well established for MRI data but is still subject of ongoing debate and confusion when it comes to fMRI data. fMRI data are characterised by small activation fluctuations in a background of noise. Depending on how the signal of interest and the noise are identified, signal-to-noise ratio for fMRI data is reported by using many different definitions. Since each definition comes with a different scale, interpreting and comparing signal-to-noise ratio values for fMRI data can be a very challenging job. In this paper, we provide an overview of existing definitions. Further, the relationship with activation detection power is investigated. Reference tables and conversion formulae are provided to facilitate comparability between fMRI studies.
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Conceived and designed the experiments: MW YR. Performed the experiments: MW. Analyzed the data: MW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MW. Wrote the paper: MW YR.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0077089