English

Causal and anti-causal learning in pattern recognition for neuroimaging

Machine Learning 2015-12-16 v1 Machine Learning Neurons and Cognition Methodology

Abstract

Pattern recognition in neuroimaging distinguishes between two types of models: encoding- and decoding models. This distinction is based on the insight that brain state features, that are found to be relevant in an experimental paradigm, carry a different meaning in encoding- than in decoding models. In this paper, we argue that this distinction is not sufficient: Relevant features in encoding- and decoding models carry a different meaning depending on whether they represent causal- or anti-causal relations. We provide a theoretical justification for this argument and conclude that causal inference is essential for interpretation in neuroimaging.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.04808,
  title  = {Causal and anti-causal learning in pattern recognition for neuroimaging},
  author = {Sebastian Weichwald and Bernhard Schölkopf and Tonio Ball and Moritz Grosse-Wentrup},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.04808},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

accepted manuscript

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:10:20.134Z