Selective inference for fMRI cluster-wise analysis, issues, and recommendations for critical vector selection: A comment on Blain et al

Abstract

Two permutation-based methods for simultaneous inference on the proportion of active voxels in cluster-wise brain imaging analysis have recently been published: Notip (Blain et al. 2022) and pARI (Andreella et al. 2023). Both rely on the definition of a critical vector of ordered p-values, chosen from a family of candidate vectors, but differ in how the family is defined: computed from randomization of external data for Notip and determined a priori for pARI. These procedures were compared to other proposals in the literature, but an extensive comparison between the two methods is missing due to their parallel publication. We provide such a comparison and find that pARI outperforms Notip if both methods are applied under their recommended settings. However, each method carries different advantages and drawbacks.