Permutation-based inference preserves anatomical specificity in lesion network mapping

Abstract Because many neurobehavioural functions rely on distributed brain networks, anatomically diverse brain lesions can cause the same neurobehavioural deficit. Lesion network mapping (LNM) builds on this principle to better understand the functional anatomy of the brain, by mapping focal lesions onto a normative functional connectome. Yet, recent work raised concerns about anatomical specificity of LNM, showing that commonly used LNM procedures converge on nonspecific connectome properties. Here, we show that anatomically specific LNM is possible with the right statistical approach – using symptom-label permutation as a null model. We demonstrate this in a multicenter dataset of 2,950 stroke patients…

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