Workshop on Statistical Analysis of Neuroimaging Data for Social and Behavioral Science Research

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides support for a Workshop on Statistical Analysis of Neuroimaging Data for Social and Behavioral Science Research, to be held during September 2011 in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The workshop will convene a multidisciplinary group of experts in magnetic resonance imaging, statistics, and the social and behavioral sciences to address questions concerning the nature of the analysis of fMRI data and the nature of social and behavioral science questions that reasonably can be answered by fMRI experimentation. In particular, the workshop will focus on the following issues: (1) What experimental designs are appropriate and what can or cannot be learned with these designs? and (2) What are "proper" statistical analyses and what statistical methods are inappropriate? Since the mid-1990s, neuroimaging has moved from being almost exclusively a clinical science to an experimental tool with widespread application in the social and behavioral sciences. There is, however, no general agreement on how to analyze data from neuroimaging experiments. This workshop will facilitate a much needed dialogue on the interplay between neuroimaging techniques, data analysis, and the social and behavioral science questions that can be addressed with these approaches. Plans for dissemination to the broader research community include a web site for the workshop and a collection of papers in a neuroscience journal.