A new SPM toolbox for combining probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps and functional imaging data

Abstract

Correlating the activation foci identified in functional imaging studies of the human brain with structural (e.g., cytoarchitectonic) information on the activated areas is a major methodological challenge for neuroscience research. We here present a new approach to make use of three-dimensional probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps, as obtained from the analysis of human post-mortem brains, for correlating microscopical, anatomical and functional imaging data of the cerebral cortex. We introduce a new, MATLAB based toolbox for the SPM2 software package which enables the integration of probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps and results of functional imaging studies. The toolbox includes the functionality for the construction of summary maps combining probability of several cortical areas by finding the most probable assignment of each voxel to one of these areas. Its main feature is to provide several measures defining the degree of correspondence between architectonic areas and functional foci. The software, together with the presently available probability maps, is available as open source software to the neuroimaging community. This new toolbox provides an easy-to-use tool for the integrated analysis of functional and anatomical data in a common reference space.