A Four-Dimensional Probabilistic Atlas of the Human Brain

Abstract

The authors describe the development of a four-dimensional atlas and reference system that includes both macroscopic and microscopic information on structure and function of the human brain in persons between the ages of 18 and 90 years. Given the presumed large but previously unquantified degree of structural and functional variance among normal persons in the human population, the basis for this atlas and reference system is probabilistic. Through the efforts of the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM), 7,000 subjects will be included in the initial phase of database and atlas development. For each subject, detailed demographic, clinical, behavioral, and imaging information is being collected. In addition, 5,800 subjects will contribute DNA for the purpose of determining genotype- phenotype-behavioral correlations. The process of developing the strategies, algorithms, data collection methods, validation approaches, database structures, and distribution of results is described in this report. Examples of applications of the approach are described for the normal brain in both adults and children as well as in patients with schizophrenia. This project should provide new insights into the relationship between microscopic and macroscopic structure and function in the human brain and should have important implications in basic neuroscience, clinical diagnostics, and cerebral disorders.

Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: A relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas

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Neural mechanisms underlying auditory feedback control of speech

“…Image data were preprocessed using tools from the SPM2 software package provided by the Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London (Friston et al, 1995b; http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/). Functional images were realigned to the mean EPI image (Friston et al, 1995a), coregistered with the T1-weighted anatomical dataset (Collignon et al, 1995), and spatially normalized into standard stereotaxic space using the EPI template provided by the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI ICBM-152; Evans et al, 1993;Mazziotta et al, 2001). Functional images were then spatially smoothed (12 mm full-width-half-maximum Gaussian kernel) and globally scaled.…”

T1ρ MRI of Alzheimer's disease

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