Visualisation of Brain Statistics with R-packages ggseg and ggseg3d

TL;DR

This paper introduces ggseg and ggseg3d, R packages that enable intuitive 2D and 3D visualization of neuroimaging brain data, integrating spatial information with existing tools.

Contribution

The paper presents new R packages that visualize brain segmentations in 2D and 3D, enhancing neuroimaging data dissemination and workflow efficiency.

Findings

Packages support multiple brain atlases

Facilitate intuitive neuroimaging visualization

Integrate with existing R tools

Abstract

There is an increased emphasis on visualizing neuroimaging results in more intuitive ways. Common statistical tools for dissemination, such as bar charts, lack the spatial dimension that is inherent in neuroimaging data. Here we present two packages for the statistical software R, ggseg and ggseg3d, that integrate this spatial component. The ggseg and ggseg3d packages visualize pre-defined brain segmentations as both 2D polygons and 3D meshes, respectively. Both packages are integrated with other well-established R-packages, allowing great flexibility. In this tutorial, we present the main data and functions in the ggseg and ggseg3d packages for brain atlas visualization. The main highlighted functions are able to display brain segmentation plots in R. Further, the accompanying ggsegExtra-package includes a wider collection of atlases, and is intended for community-based efforts to develop more compatible atlases to ggseg and ggseg3d. Overall, the ggseg-packages facilitate parcellation-based visualizations in R, improve and ease the dissemination of the results, and increase the efficiency of the workflows.