Assessment of dynamic functional connectivity in resting-state fMRI using the sliding window technique

Introduction Recent studies related to assessing functional connectivity (FC) in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging have revealed that the resulting connectivity patterns exhibit considerable fluctuations (dynamic FC [dFC]). A widely applied method for quantifying dFC is the sliding window technique. According to this method, the data are divided into segments with the same length (window size) and a correlation metric is employed to assess the connectivity within these segments, whereby the window size is often empirically chosen. Methods In this study, we rigorously investigate the assessment of dFC using the sliding window approach. Specifically, we perform a detailed comparison between different correlation metrics, including Pearson, Spearman and Kendall correlation, Pearson and Spearman partial correlation, Mutual Information (MI), Variation of Information (VI), Kullback-Leibler divergence, Multiplication of Temporal Derivatives and Inverse Covariance. Results Using test-retest datasets, we show that MI and VI yielded the most consistent results by achieving high reliability with respect to dFC estimates for different window sizes. Subsequent hypothesis testing, based on multivariate phase randomization surrogate data generation, allowed the identification of dynamic connections between the posterior cingulate cortex and regions in the frontal lobe and inferior parietal lobes, which were overall in agreement with previous studies. Conclusions In the case of MI and VI, a window size of at least 120 s was found to be necessary for detecting dFC for some of the previously identified dynamically connected regions.