Comparison of Features for Voxel-Based Analysis and Classification of Anatomical Neuroimaging Data

The aim of this paper is to identify the relevant features that improve the identification of associations between structural (T1-weighted) MRI and a group (clinical status) of each subject. We compare 5 features derived from grey matter and deformation, on both simulated and experimental data. With voxel-based analysis we compare sensitivity of detection of anatomical differences, with pattern recognition approaches, we compare the accuracies of group prediction. The best results on our data are achieved by a multivariate representation of the deformation, the strain tensor, that can be associated with grey matter.