Using the GLM to model fMRI data

In this section (corresponding to week 2 of the course), we will discuss the general linear model (GLM) and how to use it to analyze functional MRI data. The presentation slides for this week can be found below:

This section contains two notebooks:

• The GLM: estimation

• The GLM: inference

The estimation tutorial discusses the basics of multiple linear regression and how to estimate its parameters using ordinary least squares (OLS) as well as how to quantify model fit. The inference notebook discusses how to specify hypotheses using contrasts and how to statistically test these hypotheses by computing t and p-values.

Note that these two notebooks are quite extensive (especially the estimation tutorial) and may take longer to complete than the other tutorials in this course. In our “offline” course at the University of Amsterdam, we therefore have students do the estimation tutorial in week 2 and the inference notebook for week 3.

Note

The tutorials from this section can be done online using Binder by clicking on the rocket icon in the top right of the tutorial page.