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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

annechurchland.bsky.social @annechurchland.bsky.social · 19d

Wanna better understand what society has gained from research? This website crowd-sources societal benefits that stem from US government-funded research publicusaresearchbenefits.com

Searchable database of tangible benefits that federally-funded research gave us.

A crowd-sourced site. Health and Well-being. National Security. Prosperity.

publicusaresearchbenefits.com

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 19d

Yes! bsky.app/profile/mwco...

Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

The graphical lasso functional connectivity approach that performed best in the paper can be implemented using the Activity Flow Toolbox: colelab.github.io/ActflowToolb...
And also using the paper's code release: github.com/ColeLab/Reli... [12/n]

ActflowToolbox

colelab.github.io

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 22d

I think both of those explanations are plausible. I co-authored a paper on functional/effective connectivity in 2019 that may be helpful: Reid et al. (2019). "Advancing functional connectivity research from association to causation". Nature Neuroscience. www.colelab.org/pubs/Reid201...

www.colelab.org

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 22d

Ideally, regularized partial correlation would have become the default back then. Instead, 90%+ of studies have continued to use pairwise correlations, especially with fMRI. I think one reason is that the advantages of the new approach hadn't been shown clearly, which is what we try to do here.

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

The graphical lasso functional connectivity approach that performed best in the paper can be implemented using the Activity Flow Toolbox: colelab.github.io/ActflowToolb...
And also using the paper's code release: github.com/ColeLab/Reli... [12/n]

ActflowToolbox

colelab.github.io

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

Together, results demonstrated vast improvements in fMRI functional connectivity estimation using regularized partial correlation. Thanks to first author Kirsten Peterson, and coauthors Ruben Sanchez-Romero and
@ravimill.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG... #neuroscience #neuroimaging [11/n]

Regularized partial correlation provides reliable functional connectivity estimates while correcting for widespread confounding

Abstract. Functional connectivity (FC) has been invaluable for understanding the brain's communication network, with strong potential for enhanced FC approaches to yield additional insights. Unlike wi...

doi.org

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

And regularization improved prediction of individual differences in demographics (age) and behavior/cognition (general intelligence) relative to standard partial correlation. The glasso results were more interpretable than pairwise correlation (fewer false connections) 10/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

Also empirical, prediction of task-evoked activity (via activity flow modeling) was better with regularized partial correlation 9/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

As another empirical validation, regularized partial correlation was much less susceptible to motion artifacts than pairwise correlation. Percent connections linked to motion = Pairwise correlation FC: 56.4% vs. graphical lasso FC: 0.01% 8/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

First empirical validation: regularized partial correlation was much closer to structural connectivity, which doesn’t have the causal confounding problem (despite other issues) 7/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

This pattern of results was mirrored in empirical resting-state fMRI data across 4 validation measures. Regularization was key to estimating individual subject-level networks with reduced confounding. 6/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

In simulations, pairwise (standard) correlation led to many false connections, but so did partial correlation. Regularized partial correlation (glasso) better recovered the true network organization 5/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

We hypothesized that low reliability of partial correlation is due to overfitting to noise, with regularization (model simplification) improving reliability. 4/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

Pairwise correlations are known to be susceptible to false positives in theory. For example, region A causing activity in unconnected regions B and C (B<-A->C) can lead to a false B-C connection. Partial correlation can correct for this error, but not reliably 3/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

In brief: Improvements to pairwise (standard) correlation: 1) reduced false connections (confounding), 2) reduced sensitivity to in-scanner motion, 3) better correspondence to task-related activity, and 4) more interpretable links with individual differences in behavior 2/n

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · 24d

Lab’s latest is out in Imaging Neuroscience, led by Kirsten Peterson: “Regularized partial correlation provides reliable functional connectivity estimates while correcting for widespread confounding”, where we demonstrate a major improvement to standard fMRI functional connectivity (correlation) 1/n

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

Imaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 28d

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Malte R. Güth, Travis E. Baker, et al:

Right posterior theta reflects human parahippocampal phase resetting by salient cues during goal-directed navigation

doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · Sep 6

Ask courageous questions.
Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility.
Cherish your species and your planet.

- Carl Sagan.

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

Damien Fair @drdamienfair.bsky.social · Aug 10

I still get chills

Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts

Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE

see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · Jul 22

“Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience: overcoming the clash of research cultures”
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Small contribution in this piece by @frosas.bsky.social and colleagues on how we need both types of research culture in neuroscience.
#neuroskyence

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · Jul 11

Maybe being anxious is a sign of being a good scientist? Accurate theories/hypotheses should stand up to many tests developed from a skeptical perspective. Starting from empirical constraints & modeling their interaction can help keep theories grounded, perhaps increasing the odds they'll be correct

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · Jul 11

Once you have a flow model that generates a phenomenon of interest, you can lesion each empirical constraint (e.g., each connection or task-evoked activation) to determine which contributed to generation of that phenomenon. Follow-up empirical stimulation or lesion work can further verify this.

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Michael W. Cole @mwcole.bsky.social · Jul 11

I agree these are vexing problems that need more solutions. An approach that's working for us is to integrate empirical constraints into generative models. Connectivity and task response data used to form activity flow models (empirical neural networks). Details here: www.colelab.org/pubs/2024_Ac...

www.colelab.org

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

Tim Kietzmann @timkietzmann.bsky.social · Jul 8

Exciting new preprint from the lab: “Adopting a human developmental visual diet yields robust, shape-based AI vision”. A most wonderful case where brain inspiration massively improved AI solutions.

Work with @zejinlu.bsky.social @sushrutthorat.bsky.social and Radek Cichy

arxiv.org/abs/2507.03168

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Michael W. Cole

Donner Lab @donnerlab.bsky.social · Jun 27

1/ New paper by Hame Park, (@AraziAyelet), Bharath Talluri, Marco Celotto, Stefano Panzeri, Alan Stocker & Tobias Donner published in Nature Communications – “Confirmation Bias through Selective Readout of Information Encoded in Human Parietal Cortex”: rdcu.be/etlR7. Here is a summary:

Confirmation bias through selective readout of information encoded in human parietal cortex

Nature Communications - People often discard incoming information when it contradicts their pre-existing beliefs about the world. Here, the authors show that this discarded information is precisely...

rdcu.be

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