[pymvpa] Rapid ER design

[Jeffrey Bloch]

Dear Michael,

Thank you kindly for your responses.


1.  PyMVPA knows that my nifti file has 179 volumes, so it keeps getting
> mad when I try to create an attribute that has fewer items (say, a
> condition for each of the 110 events).  How can I make the software forget
> about the volumes and just focus on the timepoints of my events?  The
> original attribute file (with just chunks and condition) has to be 179
> items long, but 110 doesn't fit into 179 very nicely!  :)
>

You cannot make it forget. But you do not have to work with the original
time series and model your events to get parameter estimates.

        *** How can I do that in PyMVPA?  I realize that beta values for
each event can be used, but typically they would be derived from some other
software (ANFI, SPM, FSL).  I was hoping to avoid that initially, since I
am new to PyMVPA (obviously) and wanted to try and do the entire analysis
within the software.  On the other hand, if it is not worth it, and would
be much easier simply to start with betas from elsewhere, please let me
know so I can stop spinning my wheels.  :)


2. I am trying to get GLM estimates (per event/volume) using
> 'eventrelated_design' with 'hrf'.  I understand that it is possible to
> bring in betas from outsidePyMVPA, but I was hoping to keep it all "in
> house."  Even if I make my event list by multiplying by TR (as in the
> tutorial), the original dataset need is still 179 volumes, so the events
> and attributes don't line up.
>

HRF modeling doesn't require timing to be expressed in multiples of TR. It
would be best, if you would share the relevant parts of your code to get a
better picture of what you are doing.

          *** Right, but If I do make my dataset using the original time
series, I don't see how it is possible to use the 'eventrelated_dataset'
function given my timing issues.  Because of the mismatch between event
duration and TR, my attributes list with targets/chunks is simply not
accurate.  Since my dataset was made using this attribute and the original
time series, the number of events and time coordinates passed to the
function will not match.  Therefore, the events that I derive from
find_events (to feed into eventrelated_events) do not have the correct
onset times.


***I apologize if I've repeated myself, but I'm just struggling with the
concept.  Thanks again for taking the time to answer these basic
questions.  :)    I'm not sure what code would help you at this point, but
here ya go:

MAKING THE DATASET
>>> path = os.path.join('/home/bloch/data_for_Jeff')
>>> bold_fname = os.path.join(path, 'sub001', 'BOLD', 'task001_run001',
'bold.nii.gz')
>>> attr_fname = os.path.join(path, 'sub001', 'BOLD', 'task001_run001',
'Attributes_by_volume.txt'
>>> attr = SampleAttributes(attr_fname)
>>> ds1 = fmri_dataset(samples=bold_fname, targets=attr.targets,
chunks=attr.chunks)

[Attribute list above has 179 items.  If I try to give it only the 110
events with associated time stamps, it fails]

>>> evds = eventrelated_dataset(ds1,
...                             events,
...                             model='hrf',
...                             time_attr='time_coords'
...                             condition_attr=('targets', 'chunks'))

[I'm not able to give appropriate time coords here -- for 110 events.
Also, the information about the included events is not accurate due to
timing]


EXAMPLE OF EVENTS:
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 5.8, 'onset': 20.0, 'targets': 'Monkey'}
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 8.7, 'onset': 24.0, 'targets': 'Wrench'}
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 2.9, 'onset': 30.0, 'targets': 'Monkey'}
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 5.8, 'onset': 32.0, 'targets': 'Screwdriver'}
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 8.7, 'onset': 36.0, 'targets': 'Elephant'}
{'chunks': 0.0, 'duration': 5.8, 'onset': 42.0, 'targets': 'Hammer'}

[The onsets/durations above aren't correct.  I had to guess how long they
would be by extrapolating my 110 events into the 179 volumes.  E.G., there
was only 1 monkey stimulus, but in my attribute file I put it twice two
"cover" the TRs during which it occurred.  Find_events interprets this as 2
events, and thus doubles the duration time I give it.  The onsets
themselves take on multiples of TR value, which in itself is incorrect]







On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 4:47 AM, Michael Hanke <michael.hanke at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2015 at 11:55 PM, Jeffrey Bloch <jeffreybloch1 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Hello!  I am in the middle of setting up a rapid event-related design
>> analysis, and was hoping I could ask a few questions.  I've been working
>> through this for a while, but to no avail.  Thanks in advance!
>>
>> My main confusion(s) stem from the fact that my design has events that
>> are not multiples of the TR.  Namely, there are 110 events (of 3s
>> duration), but my TR is 2s.  So, technically, any volume could have
>> multiple conditions, and/or conditions can spread over more than one TR.
>> What is the best way of dealing with this when setting up the analysis?
>>
>
> The HRF-modeling approach seems like a good choice.
>
> 1.  PyMVPA knows that my nifti file has 179 volumes, so it keeps getting
>> mad when I try to create an attribute that has fewer items (say, a
>> condition for each of the 110 events).  How can I make the software forget
>> about the volumes and just focus on the timepoints of my events?  The
>> original attribute file (with just chunks and condition) has to be 179
>> items long, but 110 doesn't fit into 179 very nicely!  :)
>>
>
> You cannot make it forget. But you do not have to work with the original
> time series and model your events to get parameter estimates.
>
> 2. I am trying to get GLM estimates (per event/volume) using
>> 'eventrelated_design' with 'hrf'.  I understand that it is possible to
>> bring in betas from outsidePyMVPA, but I was hoping to keep it all "in
>> house."  Even if I make my event list by multiplying by TR (as in the
>> tutorial), the original dataset need is still 179 volumes, so the events
>> and attributes don't line up.
>>
>
> HRF modeling doesn't require timing to be expressed in multiples of TR. It
> would be best, if you would share the relevant parts of your code to get a
> better picture of what you are doing.
>
> 3.  I find that my "time_coords" are always blank (all zeros) when I
>> create my datasets, but several functions seem to require this
>> information.  Similarly, the time_indices are always 179 due to the nifti
>> volumes, but that's not very useful for me (again, 110 events, sorry to be
>> repetitive).
>>
>
> Please also share the parts of your code that create your datasets. Also,
> please be aware that you can simple add the time_coords attribute to a
> dataset at any time.
>
>
>> Lastly (I hope!), is it possible using eventrelated_dataset to get
>> parameters for each event (instead of each target)?  I was hoping to be
>> able to tease apart relationships at an event by event basis.
>>
>
> Yes, you can do that. But of course a per event modeling tends to be
> noisier than a coarser one.
>
> Michael
>
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