Bayesian estimation of covariate assisted principal regression for brain functional connectivity

This paper presents a Bayesian reformulation of covariate-assisted principal (CAP) regression of Zhao et al. (2021), which aims to identify components in the covariance of response signal that are associated with covariates in a regression framework. We introduce a geometric formulation and reparameterization of individual covariance matrices in their tangent space. By mapping the covariance matrices to the tangent space, we leverage Euclidean geometry to perform posterior inference. This approach enables joint estimation of all parameters and uncertainty quantification within a unified framework, fusing dimension reduction for covariance matrices with regression model estimation. We validate the proposed method through simulation studies and apply it to analyze associations between covariates and brain functional connectivity, utilizing data from the Human Connectome Project.