Frontiers in Neuroinformatics (Jul 2009)

ALE meta-analysis workflows via the BrainMap database: progress towards a probabilistic functional brain atlas

  • Angela R Laird,
  • Simon B Eickhoff,
  • Simon B Eickhoff,
  • Simon B Eickhoff,
  • Florian Kurth,
  • Peter M Fox,
  • Angela M Uecker,
  • Jessica A Turner,
  • Jennifer L Robinson,
  • Jack L Lancaster,
  • Peter T Fox

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.11.023.2009
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3

Abstract

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With the ever-increasing number of studies in human functional brain mapping, an abundance of data has been generated that is ready to be synthesized and modeled on a large scale. The BrainMap database archives peak coordinates from published neuroimaging studies, along with the corresponding metadata that summarize the experimental design. BrainMap was designed to facilitate quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging results reported in the literature and supports the use of the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method. In this paper, we present a discussion of the potential analyses that are possible using the BrainMap database and coordinate-based ALE meta-analyses, along with some examples of how these tools can be applied to create a probabilistic atlas and ontological system of describing function-structure correspondences.

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