Objective Quality Assessment for Precision Functional MRI Data
Precision functional mapping (PFM) enables individual-level characterization of brain network organization but requires substantially more and higher-quality fMRI data than is standard. Despite its growing use, objective criteria for data sufficiency and quality needed to ensure interpretable and replicable individual-level results remain unclear. Here, we introduce the Network Similarity Index (NSI), an objective measure of the extent to which functional connectivity (FC) patterns in an individual dataset express the large-scale network structure required for PFM. NSI captures the integrity of low-spatial-frequency, coherent network organization and denoising fidelity, and aligns closely with blinded expert assessments of PFM usability. NSI also accounts for variability in the rate at which FC becomes reliable across individuals. Here, we provide an open-source framework for NSI-based data quality evaluation and models for linking NSI values with expert-judged PFM suitability. This framework can also inform expected returns from additional data collection, enabling principled decisions about data sufficiency and replication in precision fMRI research.
Authors
- Jacqueline A. Clauss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0532-6726)
- Zach Ladwig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8280-5173)
- Charles J. Lynch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1936-9740)
- Lindsay W. Victoria (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3327-8677)
- Megan Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0180-9843)
- Derrick Matthew Buchanan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4478-2844)
- Benjamin Zebley
- Faith M. Gunning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1854-9969)
- Diana C. Perez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9527-9144)
- Jingnan Du
- Parsa Nilchian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1460-5946)
- Immanuel Elbau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5887-6791)
- Jonathan H. Downar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5140-174X)
- Logan Grosenick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3216-0319)
- Jonathan D. Power (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6922-100X)
- Eric L. Goldwaser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9676-9230)
- Nolan Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4368-3203)
- Stefano Moia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2553-3327)
- Timothy O. Laumann
- Nili Solomonov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1573-5715)
- Elizabeth Gregory (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1301-6565)
- Jolene Chou
- Indira Summerville
- M Tina Johnson
- Claire Ho
- Nicola Manfredi
- Conor Liston
- Zafiris J. Daskalakis
- Mahendra T. Bhati
- Tommy Ng
- Fidel Vila-Rodriguez
- Daniel M. Blumberger
- Cesar Caballero-Gaudes
- Evan M. Gordon
- Maximilian Lueckel
Institutions
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Maryland Medical Center (US)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (DE)
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (ES)
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod (FR)
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab (FR)
- Center for Pain and the Brain (US)
- Resonance Research (United States) (US)
- Psychiatric Medical Center (AM)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-02-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.02.10.704857
- Primary Topic
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00