9.4.2. Extracting signals from a brain parcellation

Here we show how to extract signals from a brain parcellation and compute a correlation matrix.

We also show the importance of defining good confounds signals: the first correlation matrix is computed after regressing out simple confounds signals: movement regressors, white matter and CSF signals, … The second one is without any confounds: all regions are connected to each other.

One reference that discusses the importance of confounds is Varoquaux and Craddock, Learning and comparing functional connectomes across subjects, NeuroImage 2013.

This is just a code example, see the corresponding section in the documentation for more.

Note

This example needs SciPy >= 1.0.0 for the reordering of the matrix.

9.4.2.1. Retrieve the atlas and the data

from nilearn import datasets

dataset = datasets.fetch_atlas_harvard_oxford('cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm')
atlas_filename = dataset.maps
labels = dataset.labels

print('Atlas ROIs are located in nifti image (4D) at: %s' %
      atlas_filename)  # 4D data

# One subject of brain development fmri data
data = datasets.fetch_development_fmri(n_subjects=1)
fmri_filenames = data.func[0]

Out:

Atlas ROIs are located in nifti image (4D) at: /home/nicolas/nilearn_data/fsl/data/atlases/HarvardOxford/HarvardOxford-cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm.nii.gz

9.4.2.2. Extract signals on a parcellation defined by labels

Using the NiftiLabelsMasker

from nilearn.input_data import NiftiLabelsMasker
masker = NiftiLabelsMasker(labels_img=atlas_filename, standardize=True,
                           memory='nilearn_cache', verbose=5)

# Here we go from nifti files to the signal time series in a numpy
# array. Note how we give confounds to be regressed out during signal
# extraction
time_series = masker.fit_transform(fmri_filenames, confounds=data.confounds)

Out:

[NiftiLabelsMasker.fit_transform] loading data from /home/nicolas/nilearn_data/fsl/data/atlases/HarvardOxford/HarvardOxford-cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm.nii.gz
Resampling labels
________________________________________________________________________________
[Memory] Calling nilearn.input_data.base_masker.filter_and_extract...
filter_and_extract('/home/nicolas/nilearn_data/development_fmri/development_fmri/sub-pixar123_task-pixar_space-MNI152NLin2009cAsym_desc-preproc_bold.nii.gz',
<nilearn.input_data.nifti_labels_masker._ExtractionFunctor object at 0x7fc6a2c4a340>,
{ 'background_label': 0,
  'detrend': False,
  'dtype': None,
  'high_pass': None,
  'high_variance_confounds': False,
  'labels': None,
  'labels_img': '/home/nicolas/nilearn_data/fsl/data/atlases/HarvardOxford/HarvardOxford-cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm.nii.gz',
  'low_pass': None,
  'mask_img': None,
  'reports': True,
  'smoothing_fwhm': None,
  'standardize': True,
  'standardize_confounds': True,
  'strategy': 'mean',
  't_r': None,
  'target_affine': None,
  'target_shape': None}, confounds=[ '/home/nicolas/nilearn_data/development_fmri/development_fmri/sub-pixar123_task-pixar_desc-reducedConfounds_regressors.tsv'], sample_mask=None, dtype=None, memory=Memory(location=nilearn_cache/joblib), memory_level=1, verbose=5)
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Loading data from /home/nicolas/nilearn_data/development_fmri/development_fmri/sub-pixar123_task-pixar_space-MNI152NLin2009cAsym_desc-preproc_bold.nii.gz
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Extracting region signals
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Cleaning extracted signals
_______________________________________________filter_and_extract - 0.8s, 0.0min

9.4.2.3. Compute and display a correlation matrix

from nilearn.connectome import ConnectivityMeasure
correlation_measure = ConnectivityMeasure(kind='correlation')
correlation_matrix = correlation_measure.fit_transform([time_series])[0]

# Plot the correlation matrix
import numpy as np
from nilearn import plotting
# Make a large figure
# Mask the main diagonal for visualization:
np.fill_diagonal(correlation_matrix, 0)
# The labels we have start with the background (0), hence we skip the
# first label
# matrices are ordered for block-like representation
plotting.plot_matrix(correlation_matrix, figure=(10, 8), labels=labels[1:],
                     vmax=0.8, vmin=-0.8, reorder=True)

Out:

<matplotlib.image.AxesImage object at 0x7fc6a7d7f190>

9.4.2.4. Same thing without confounds, to stress the importance of confounds

time_series = masker.fit_transform(fmri_filenames)
# Note how we did not specify confounds above. This is bad!

correlation_matrix = correlation_measure.fit_transform([time_series])[0]

# Mask the main diagonal for visualization:
np.fill_diagonal(correlation_matrix, 0)

plotting.plot_matrix(correlation_matrix, figure=(10, 8), labels=labels[1:],
                     vmax=0.8, vmin=-0.8, title='No confounds', reorder=True)

plotting.show()

Out:

[NiftiLabelsMasker.fit_transform] loading data from /home/nicolas/nilearn_data/fsl/data/atlases/HarvardOxford/HarvardOxford-cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm.nii.gz
________________________________________________________________________________
[Memory] Calling nilearn.input_data.base_masker.filter_and_extract...
filter_and_extract('/home/nicolas/nilearn_data/development_fmri/development_fmri/sub-pixar123_task-pixar_space-MNI152NLin2009cAsym_desc-preproc_bold.nii.gz',
<nilearn.input_data.nifti_labels_masker._ExtractionFunctor object at 0x7fc6a80d7d90>,
{ 'background_label': 0,
  'detrend': False,
  'dtype': None,
  'high_pass': None,
  'high_variance_confounds': False,
  'labels': None,
  'labels_img': '/home/nicolas/nilearn_data/fsl/data/atlases/HarvardOxford/HarvardOxford-cort-maxprob-thr25-2mm.nii.gz',
  'low_pass': None,
  'mask_img': None,
  'reports': True,
  'smoothing_fwhm': None,
  'standardize': True,
  'standardize_confounds': True,
  'strategy': 'mean',
  't_r': None,
  'target_affine': None,
  'target_shape': None}, confounds=None, sample_mask=None, dtype=None, memory=Memory(location=nilearn_cache/joblib), memory_level=1, verbose=5)
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Loading data from /home/nicolas/nilearn_data/development_fmri/development_fmri/sub-pixar123_task-pixar_space-MNI152NLin2009cAsym_desc-preproc_bold.nii.gz
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Extracting region signals
[NiftiLabelsMasker.transform_single_imgs] Cleaning extracted signals
_______________________________________________filter_and_extract - 0.8s, 0.0min