Bayesian Mixed Effect Sparse Tensor Response Regression Model with Joint Estimation of Activation and Connectivity

Abstract: Brain activation and connectivity analyses in task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments with multiple subjects are currently at the forefront of data-driven neuroscience. In such experiments, interest often lies in understanding activation of brain voxels due to external stimuli and strong association or connectivity between the measurements on a set of pre-specified group of brain voxels, also known as regions of interest (ROI). This article proposes a joint Bayesian additive mixed modeling framework that simultaneously assesses brain activation and connectivity patterns from multiple subjects. In particular, fMRI measurements from each individual obtained in the form of a multi-dimensional array/tensor at each time are regressed on functions of the stimuli. We impose a low-rank PARAFAC decomposition on the tensor regression coefficients corresponding to the stimuli to achieve parsimony. Multiway stick breaking shrinkage priors are employed to infer activation patterns and associated uncertainties in each voxel. Further, the model introduces region specific random effects which are jointly modeled with a Bayesian Gaussian graphical prior to account for the connectivity among pairs of ROIs. Empirical investigations under various simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the method as a tool to simultaneously assess brain activation and connectivity. The method is then applied to a multi-subject fMRI dataset from a balloon-analog risk-taking experiment in order to make inference about how the brain processes risk.