Quantitative metanalysis is an effective strategy for associating localized neural populations with cognitive operations. By grouping published observations, quantitative metanalysis can assemble converging evidence to create neuroanatomically and cognitively explicit models of elementary cognitive operations and of ensembles of cognitive operations supporting complex tasks. Metanalysis strategies have been developed and validated by the PI and colleagues at the Research Imaging Center (RIC) for the last four years. An electronic environment (BrainMap) for effectively carrying out metanalyses is operational. At present, the metanalysis strategy, however, does not correct for differences among the informatics tools used in image processing and data analysis. Currently, results are confounded by different informatics tools, in particular by spatial normalization, statistical methods and inferences. Assessing and understanding effects of different informatics tools on metanalysis and neuroimaging results are therefore very important. Building upon our current work and an ongoing NIH reward (entitled """"""""Metanalysis in Cognitive Neuroimaging: Methods Validations""""""""), the present application seeks to further refine and extend modeling to account for the effects of informatics tools and to include metanalyses with statistical parametric images. The overall objective of this application is then to advance the use of quantitative metanalysis as a research method for functional human brain mapping by assessing and minimizing the effects of different informatics tools. The effects of different spatial normalization procedures on reported locations of functional activations will be assessed (Aim 1). The effects of different statistical analyses and statistical inference strategies on detection of functional activations will be extended to include analysis of shared statistical parametric images (Aim 4). The strategies, guidelines, statistical models, electronic tools, and data sets developed through this application will be shared with the brain-mapping community through publications, Internet and community presentations. Once thoroughly critiqued and refined, integration of these tools/strategies into an electronic environment (BrainMap) for public distribution is our next objective.
