portrait Neurological Tracts and Cognitive Performance in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Do longitudinally collected diffusion tensor images of the corpus callosum and right corticospinal tract explain variation in cognitive performance (PASAT) test scores?

A hallmark of multiple sclerosis is the de-myelination of nerves in the brain which can lead to sporadic compromises in cognitive and physical performance. A scalar-on-function regression can produce coefficient functions that indicate locations of neurological tracts that are heavily weighted in modeling an outcome. Predating my work, there was a lack of inferential methods and software to test if the functional effects were significant. Within this application, our methodological work enabled the confirming scientific finding that the modeling of the corpus callosum significantly improves the explanation of cognitive scores and additionally including the right corticospinal tract does not.