So if my findings show that each group ages differently, does that mean I can't compare them at all because I can't regress out age? Or is there some way of comparing the groups despite this difference in aging patterns?

Thanks again,
Allie

On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 4:44 PM, Douglas N Greve <greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu> wrote:
It might, don't know

Allie Rosen wrote:
Hi Doug,

Yes, I think there actually may be a topologic defect in this area, although not directly where the cluster is (attached). Could this be the cause of the thickness result? If I go back and try to repair the defect, will that make the results more typical and, more importantly, correct?

Thanks again,
Allie



On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Douglas N Greve <greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu <mailto:greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>> wrote:

   Hi Allie, yes, it means that each group is affected differently by
   age. The controls are increasing their thickness with age in this
   area (which seems strange, usually you expect general decreases
   with age). You might check the quality of the surfaces in this area.
   doug

   Allie Rosen wrote:

       Hi Doug,

       Thanks for the response. I've actually already run an
       interaction contrast and the same area is still significant
       (attached). I'm not sure how to interpret this either,
       unfortunately. Does it say that both groups are affected
       significantly differently by age? Can you tell me what it
       means? I'm having problems trying to do this myself.

       Thanks very much,
       Allie

       On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Douglas N Greve
       <greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu <mailto:greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
       <mailto:greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu

       <mailto:greve@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>>> wrote:

          Allie, to be more precise, you have selected control<patient
          regressing out the effects of age. This second part is the key.
           If you were to trace the regression lines back to age=0 (the
          meaning of "regressing out age"), then control<patient by a
       wide
          margin. But you have a problem here in that the regression
       lines
          are crossed. This means that you have an interaction
       between age
          and patient (no interaction means that the lines would be
          parallel). An interaction means that you cannot assess whether
          there is a difference in the thickness because this difference
          changes depending upon the age. One thing you can try is to
          actually compute an interaction contrast (something like [0 0 1
          -1]). If it is significant in this area, then there's not
       much you
          can do (though it may be interesting in itself). If it is not
          significant, then you can switch to a DOSS model which
       forces the
          lines to be parallel and makes the distance between the
       lines be
          independent of age. Does this make sense?
          doug



          Allie Rosen wrote:

              Hi All,

              I'm having trouble reconciling the cluster colours with the
              graph that can be made when you load the group
       descriptor file
              and click on a point. I've attached an example.
              In this study, I'm comparing thickness in a patient and
              control group, with age regressed out. The contrast
       I've used
              means that blue means control<patient. Therefore,
       patients are
              thicker than controls. But in the graph, patients don't
       seem
              to be thicker. I've seen the same results with red clusters
              (i.e. they should mean that controls are thicker but
       the graph
              shows otherwhise). Please let me know how I can
       interpret my
              findings given the graph. Which group is actually thicker?

              Thank you,
              Allison

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