The fNIRS Reproducibility Study Hub (FRESH): Exploring Variability and Enhancing Transparency in fNIRS Neuroimaging Research

• DOI: 10.31222/osf.io/pc6x8_v1
• Publication Date: 2025-04-17T08:41:14Z
• Authors: Meryem Ayşe Yücel; Robert Luke; Rickson Coelho Me...; Alexander von Lüh...; David Marc Anton ...; Michael Lührs; Jessica Gemignani; Androu Abdalmalak; Franziska Albrecht; Iara Almeida; Christina Artemenko; Kira Ashton; Paweł Augustynowicz; Aahana Bajracharya; Elise Bannier; Beatrix Barth; Laurie Bayet; Jacqueline Behrendt; Hadi Borj Khani; Lenaic Borot; Jordan Borrell; Sabrina Brigadoi; Kolby Brink; Chiara Bulgarelli; Emmanuel Caruyer; Hsin-Chin Chen; Chris Copeland; Isabelle Corouge; Simone Cutini; Renata Di Lorenzo; Thomas Dresler; Adam Eggebrecht; Ann-Christine Ehl; Sinem Erdoğan; Daniëlle Evenblij; Talukdar Raian Fe...; Victoria Fracalossi; Erika Franzén; Anne Gallagher; Christian Gerloff; Judit Gervain; Noy Goldhamer; Louisa K Gossé; Ségolène M. R. Gu...; Edgar Guevara; Hadi Hosseini; Hamish Innes-Brown; Isabell Int-Veen; Sagi Jaffe-Dax; Nolwenn Jégou; Hiroshi Kawaguchi; Caroline Kelsey; Michaela Kent; Roman Kessler; Nadeen Kherbawy; Franziska Klein; Nofar Kochavi; Matthew Kolisnyk; Yogev Koren; Agnes Kroczek; Alexander Kvist; Chen Lin; Andreas Löw; Siying Luan; Darren Mao; Gaby G Martins; Eike Middell; Samuel Antonio Mo...; Murat Can Mutlu; Sergio Novi; Natacha Paquette; Ishara Paranawithana; Yisrael Parmet; Jonathan Peelle; Ke Peng; Tommy Peng; João Pereira; Paola Pinti; Luca Pollonini; Ali Rahimpour Jou...; Vanessa Reindl; Jana Zweerings; Betti Schopp; Alina Schulte; Martin Schulte-Rü...; Ari Segel; Tirdad Seifi-Ala; Maureen Shader; Hadas Shavit; Arefeh Sherafati; Mojtaba Soltanlou; Bettina Sorger; Emma Speh; Kevin Stubbs; Katharina Stute; Eileen Sullivan; Sungho Tak; Zeus Tipado; Julie Tremblay; Homa Vahidi; Maaike Van Eeckho...; Phetsamone Vannasing; Gregoire Vergotte; Marion Vincent; Eileen Weiss; Dalin Yang; Gülnaz Yükselen; Dariusz Zapała; Vit Zemanek

In neuroimaging research, efforts to enhance replication and reproducibility have increased the focus on improving transparency, particularly in complex data analysis processes. We conducted a multi-lab collaborative study involving 38 international teams that analyzed two functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) datasets. These tested seven group-level forty individual-level hypotheses, they submitted detailed reports their pipelines testing outcomes. The results showed significant variability hypothesis outcomes due differences analytical approaches. There was greater consensus analyses compared analyses. Factors such as pruning method, hemodynamic response function model estimation, statistical space partly account for Additionally, we found higher similarity across researchers who reported confidence skills. This underscores importance of complying with best practices fNIRS methodologies need standardized protocols improve reliability credibility.