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. 2012 Mar;60(1):623-32.
doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.063. Epub 2012 Jan 2.

Impact of in-scanner head motion on multiple measures of functional connectivity: relevance for studies of neurodevelopment in youth

Theodore D Satterthwaite  1 , Daniel H Wolf, James Loughead, Kosha Ruparel, Mark A Elliott, Hakon Hakonarson, Ruben C Gur, Raquel E Gur
Affiliations

Impact of in-scanner head motion on multiple measures of functional connectivity: relevance for studies of neurodevelopment in youth

Theodore D Satterthwaite et al. Neuroimage. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

It has recently been reported (Van Dijk et al., 2011) that in-scanner head motion can have a substantial impact on MRI measurements of resting-state functional connectivity. This finding may be of particular relevance for studies of neurodevelopment in youth, confounding analyses to the extent that motion and subject age are related. Furthermore, while Van Dijk et al. demonstrated the effect of motion on seed-based connectivity analyses, it is not known how motion impacts other common measures of connectivity. Here we expand on the findings of Van Dijk et al. by examining the effect of motion on multiple types of resting-state connectivity analyses in a large sample of children and adolescents (n=456). Following replication of the effect of motion on seed-based analyses, we examine the influence of motion on graphical measures of network modularity, dual-regression of independent component analysis, as well as the amplitude and fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation. In the entire sample, subject age was highly related to motion. Using a subsample where age and motion were unrelated, we demonstrate that motion has marked effects on connectivity in every analysis examined. While subject age was associated with increased within-network connectivity even when motion was accounted for, controlling for motion substantially attenuated the strength of this relationship. The results demonstrate the pervasive influence of motion on multiple types functional connectivity analysis, and underline the importance of accounting for motion in studies of neurodevelopment.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effect of motion is modulated by inter-node Euclidean distance. Motion tends to increase connectivity for locally adjacent nodes, but reduce connectivity between distant nodes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Motion reduces network modularity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of motion on dual-regression of independent components analysis networks. Three common networks were selected from the TC-GICA: the default mode network (A), the right-lateralized frontoparietal control network (C), and the dorsal attention network (E). Group level analysis of subject-level dual regression maps demonstrated that motion impacted estimates of connectivity for each network (B, D, and F).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of motion on ALFF and fALFF. (A) Mean ALFF map. (B) Motion reduces ALFF in midline regions including the posterior cingulate. (C) Motion weakly influences mean gray-matter ALFF. (D) Mean gray-matter fALFF. (E) Motion reduces fALFF throughout the cortex. (C) Motion strongly impacts average gray-matter fALFF.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relationship between age and in-scanner head motion. (A) Relative mean displacement by age of the complete original sample of 456 subjects. (B) Relationship between exclusion threshold and % of sample retained (blue) and the correlation between age and motion at that threshold (red). As the exclusion threshold is made more stringent, the correlation between age and motion is reduced, but study sample size is also reduced. (C) Scatterplot showing the relationship between age and motion in the age/motion-related subsample, where only subjects with gross motion (>0.55 mm mean relative displacement) were removed. Even with the exclusion of subjects with gross motion, age and motion were correlated. (D) Scatterplot showing the relationship between age and motion in the age/motion-unrelated subsample; subject age and motion were uncorrelated in this sample.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of motion on estimates of age-related connectivity change from a posterior cingulate seed. In a sample of 421 subjects where age and motion were related, increasing subject age was associated with increased connectivity between the PCC and the MPFC (A). This effect, while still significantly present, was attenuated when motion was included as a confound regressor in the group level analysis (B) or when the age/motion-unrelated subsample of 348 subjects was used (C). The correlation of age with pairwise PCC-MPFC connectivity was reduced substantially when motion was taken into account (D).
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