A misadventure of the correlation coefficient. Issue 2 (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rusakov, Dmitri A.
• Is Part Of: Trends in neurosciences. Volume 46:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 94
• Page End: 96
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: statistical association -- Pearson's R -- linear regression -- binning -- brain imaging -- colocalisation; Neurology -- Periodicals; Neurophysiology -- Periodicals; Neurobiology -- Periodicals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.09.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0166-2236

Abstract

Abstract: The correlation coefficient gauges linear association between two variables. However, interpreting its value depends on the question at hand. This article argues that relying on the correlation coefficient may be irrelevant for many neuroscience research tasks. When the experimental dataset is contextually suitable for binning-averaging, other indicators of statistical association could prove more suitable.