An investigation of a quadratic design criterion for estimation of the hemodynamic response function

ABSTRACT

Optimal experimental design for estimation of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) is investigated using a nonlinear model with a quadratic mean squared error design criterion. This criterion is used, along with a genetic algorithm, to select locally optimal designs that are shown to be, in most cases, more efficient than designs selected with the more commonly used linear expansion criterion. These designs are also shown to result in lower overall asymptotic estimator variance and bias. The investigation focuses on a single stimulus type, but the criterion can also be used with multiple stimulus types.

KEYWORDS:

• Experimental design
• fMRI
• Genetic algorithm
• Nonlinear regression
• Taylor series

MATHEMATICS SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION:

• 62 -Statistics
• 41 -Approximations and Expansions