mne-tools / mne-tools/mne-python
plot_compare_evokeds should have the same defaults for `combine`
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Description
Currently the function mne.viz.plot_compare_evokeds creates two different plots depending on the number of selected channels:
- If one channel is selected (or present in the evoked), it will plot the ERP.
- If two or more channels are selected (or present), it will plot the GFP.
I think this behaviour is potentially misleading, and I would expect the function to have the same defaults for different channels, i.e. mean of the evokeds. As you can see in #10465 , this created quite a bit of confusion for me (probably mainly due to me being new to ERP analysis and not knowing what GFP meant).
I see this has previously already spiked a bit of discussion (e.g. #3393) and was introduced in #6166.
By now, the gfp=... parameter has been removed in favor of the combine=None parameter, which defaults to a different value depending on the present/chosen channels.
I would suggest either
- make
combinehave the same default for all cases - make
combineanarg, i.e. make users forcefully choose a combination mode
Additionally, the docstring should reflect the importance of the combine parameter.
What are your thoughts on this?
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start at mne.viz.plot_compare_evokeds and inspect how the combine default changes with the selected channel count, along with the function docstring. Review the context in #10465, #3393, and #6166; the issue is complete only after the default behavior or required argument is decided and the documentation reflects its importance.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- data-visualization
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 28/100