title: Node merging in Kohonen's self-organizing mapping of fMRI data.
abstract: In this paper, Kohonen's self-organizing mapping (SOM) is used as a data-driven technique for analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Upon the completion of an SOM analysis, a cluster merging technique, based on examining the reproducibility of the fMRI data across epochs, is utilized to merge SOM nodes whose feature vectors are sufficiently similar to one another. The resulting 'super nodes' give time course templates of potential interest. These templates can be subsequently used in traditional template-based analysis methods, such as cross-correlation analysis, yielding statistical maps and activation patterns. This technique has been demonstrated on two fMRI datasets obtained from a visually-guided motor paradigm and a visual paradigm, respectively, showing satisfactory results.
authors: Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors: Shing Chung
authors: SC
authors: Ngan
authors: Essa S
authors: ES
authors: Yacoub
authors: William F
authors: WF
authors: Auffermann
authors: Xiaoping
authors: X
authors: Hu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D013997:Time Factors