Isolate the contributions of the A³PreCore registration components

Determine whether the reduction in gross misregistration produced by the A³PreCore strategy arises primarily from using the full bias-corrected T₁-weighted image, normalized mutual information, the expanded ±90° angular search, or interactions among these components, while holding the remaining registration settings constant.

Background

A³PreCore differs from the implemented fsl_anat comparator in three registration components simultaneously: the moving-image representation, the similarity criterion, and the angular-search range. Although the paper reports a leave-one-component-out ablation, the authors state that the individual causal contributions cannot be determined from the primary comparison. Resolving this issue would clarify which design elements are necessary for robust T₁-to-FLAIR rigid registration.

References

It is therefore not possible to determine whether the reduction in gross misregistration arose primarily from the full-T_{1} image, normalized mutual information, expanded angular search, or interactions among these factors.

— A$^3$PreCore: Robust Rigid Registration for Native FLAIR-Space Brain-Mask Transfer  (2610.20561 - Mirzabeigi et al., 14 Oct 2026) in Section 7.5, Limitations and Future Directions

Whether greater transformation flexibility provides additional benefit without introducing unnecessary deformation, instability, or sensitivity to FLAIR pathology remains to be established.

— A$^3$PreCore: Robust Rigid Registration for Native FLAIR-Space Brain-Mask Transfer  (2610.20561 - Mirzabeigi et al., 14 Oct 2026) in Section 7.2, A³PreCore as a Full-T₁-Guided Geometric-Transfer Strategy