What is the difference between the statistical analysis of perfusion and BOLD data?
Because perfusion time series is independent in time, it is legitimate to apply the standard general linear model for statistical analysis. Unlike BOLD data, temporal smoothing is not required in the analysis of perfusion fMRI data and the degree of freedom can be preserved. The inherent “white noise” property in ASL data simplifies statistical analysis and affords the opportunity to apply virtually any traditional parametric or non-parametric statistical test, such as permutation analysis. The group analyses of perfusion and BOLD data are very similar.
