BrainOOD: Out-of-distribution Generalizable Brain Network Analysis

Published: 22 Jan 2025, Last Modified: 11 Feb 2025ICLR 2025 PosterEveryoneRevisionsBibTeXCC BY 4.0
Keywords: Out-of-distribution Generalization, Brain Network Analysis, Graph Representation Learning
TL;DR: BrainOOD boosts GNN generalization and interpretability for brain networks, outperforming 16 methods and introducing the first OOD benchmark.
Abstract: In neuroscience, identifying distinct patterns linked to neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Autism, is critical for early diagnosis and effective intervention. Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have shown promising in analyzing brain networks, but there are two major challenges in using GNNs: (1) distribution shifts in multi-site brain network data, leading to poor Out-of-Distribution (OOD) generalization, and (2) limited interpretability in identifying key brain regions critical to neurological disorders. Existing graph OOD methods, while effective in other domains, struggle with the unique characteristics of brain networks. To bridge these gaps, we introduce BrainOOD, a novel framework tailored for brain networks that enhances GNNs' OOD generalization and interpretability. BrainOOD framework consists of a feature selector and a structure extractor, which incorporates various auxiliary losses including an improved Graph Information Bottleneck (GIB) objective to recover causal subgraphs. By aligning structure selection across brain networks and filtering noisy features, BrainOOD offers reliable interpretations of critical brain regions. Our approach outperforms 16 existing methods and improves generalization to OOD subjects by up to 8.5%. Case studies highlight the scientific validity of the patterns extracted, which aligns with the findings in known neuroscience literature. We also propose the first OOD brain network benchmark, which provides a foundation for future research in this field. Our code is available at https://github.com/AngusMonroe/BrainOOD.
Supplementary Material: pdf
Primary Area: learning on graphs and other geometries & topologies
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Submission Number: 2564
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