For that project, it was convenient enough to write separate programs for the different R and MATLAB parts. Finally, I again used R to visualize the results using brainR. I then used MATLAB to perform clustering on the results using a method developed by one of my collaborators. Therefore, I often find myself straddling the line between R and MATLAB.įor example, in one of my projects, I used R to read in the fMRI time series, create summary statistics, and do some transformations on those statistics. I know MATLAB well enough to do basic things like reading in data, looping and playing with matrices, but beyond the basics, like many statisticians I am much more comfortable in R. Many tools and programs for the analysis of fMRI data are programmed in MATLAB, and many of my collaborators program exclusively in MATLAB. In the world of neuroimaging, or at least many corners of it, MATLAB is the official language. I had taken German in college and could have really basic conversations, but for more demanding situations I would switch to English in a heartbeat, given the option. For example, my first language is English, but I spent my first summer as a PhD student doing research at LMU in Munich, Germany. Being a statistician working in neuroimaging is a little like living abroad and trying to speak a foreign language.
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