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Abstract - Beyond Anatomy: Explainable ASD Classification from rs-fMRI via Functional Parcellation and Graph Attention Networks
Anatomical brain parcellations dominate rs-fMRI-based Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classification, yet their rigid boundaries may fail to capture the idiosyncratic connectivity patterns that characterise ASD. We present a graph-based deep learning framework comparing anatomical (AAL, 116 ROIs) and functionally-derived (MSDL, 39 ROIs) parcellation strategies on the ABIDE I dataset. Our FSL preprocessing pipeline handles multi-site heterogeneity across 400 balanced subjects, with site-stratified 70/15/15 splits to prevent data leakage. Gaussian noise augmentation within training folds expands samples from 280 to 1,680. A three phase pipeline progresses from a baseline GCN with AAL (73.3% accuracy, AUC=0.74), to an optimised GCN with MSDL (84.0%, AUC=0.84), to a Graph Attention Network ensemble achieving 95.0% accuracy (AUC=0.98), outperforming all recent GNN-based benchmarks on ABIDE I. The 10.7-point gain from atlas substitution alone demonstrates that functional parcellation is the most impactful modelling decision. Gradient-based saliency and GNNExplainer analyses converge on the Posterior Cingulate Cortex and Precuneus as core Default Mode Network hubs, validating that model decisions reflect ASD neuropathology rather than acquisition artefacts. All code and datasets will be publicly released upon acceptance.
超越解剖结构:基于功能分区和图注意力网络的可解释性自闭症谱系障碍rs-fMRI分类 /
Beyond Anatomy: Explainable ASD Classification from rs-fMRI via Functional Parcellation and Graph Attention Networks
1️⃣ 一句话总结
这篇论文提出了一种基于图注意力网络的深度学习框架,通过使用功能性大脑分区而非传统的解剖学分区,显著提升了从静息态功能磁共振成像数据中识别自闭症谱系障碍的准确率,并证明了模型决策与已知的疾病神经病理学相关。