Systematic review of fNIRS studies reveals inconsistent chromophore data reporting practices

Kaleb T. Kinder; Hollis L. R. Heim; Jessica Parker; Kara Lowery; Alexis McCraw; Rachel N. Eddings; Jessica Defenderfer; Jacqueline Sullivan; Aaron T. Buss

doi:10.1117/1.NPh.9.4.040601

23 December 2022 Systematic review of fNIRS studies reveals inconsistent chromophore data reporting practices

Kaleb T. Kinder, Hollis L. R. Heim, Jessica Parker, Kara Lowery, Alexis McCraw, Rachel N. Eddings, Jessica Defenderfer, Jacqueline Sullivan, Aaron T. Buss

Author Affiliations +

Neurophotonics, Vol. 9, Issue 4, 040601 (December 2022). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.9.4.040601

Abstract

Significance

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is unique among neuroimaging techniques in its ability to estimate changes in both oxyhemoglobin (HbO) and deoxyhemoglobin (HbR). However, fNIRS research has applied various data reporting practices based on these chromophores as measures of neural activation.

Aim

To quantify the variability of fNIRS chromophore data reporting practices and to explore recent data reporting trends in the literature.

Approach

We reviewed 660 fNIRS papers from 2015, 2018, and 2021 to extract information on fNIRS chromophore data reporting practices.

Results

Our review revealed five general practices for reporting fNIRS chromophores: (1) HbO only, (2) HbR only, (3) HbO and HbR, (4) correlation-based signal improvement, and (5) either the total (HbT) or difference (HbDiff) in concentration between chromophores. The field was primarily divided between reporting HbO only and reporting HbO and HbR. However, reporting one chromophore (HbO) was consistently observed as the most popular data reporting practice for each year reviewed.

Conclusions

Our results highlight the high heterogeneity of chromophore data reporting in fNIRS research. We discuss its potential implications for study comparison efforts and interpretation of results. Most importantly, our review demonstrates the need for a standard chromophore reporting practice to improve scientific transparency and, ultimately, to better understand how neural events relate to cognitive phenomena.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

Citation Download Citation

Kaleb T. Kinder, Hollis L. R. Heim, Jessica Parker, Kara Lowery, Alexis McCraw, Rachel N. Eddings, Jessica Defenderfer, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Aaron T. Buss "Systematic review of fNIRS studies reveals inconsistent chromophore data reporting practices," Neurophotonics 9(4), 040601 (23 December 2022). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.9.4.040601

Received: 20 May 2022; Accepted: 8 December 2022; Published: 23 December 2022

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