IDENTIFYING BRAIN REGIONS

So you've done all your analyses, and got your beautiful activation maps. But how do you tell where the activations actually ARE?

Most fMRI analysis tools have atlas features that let you click around in the brain and figure out what region you're in. You can also plug the coordinates into Neurosynth, an awesome tool that pulls from thousands of studies. You can also search brain regions in Neurosynth, like "vmPFC," and see what activation patterns turn up for vmPFC in other studies.

But even with these tools, sometimes it can be tricky telling, for example, whether you're in vmPFC or OFC, because different researchers have different names for the same regions. Here are some tools to get a more exact sense of your location in the brain:

  • This handbook by Matt Lieberman has some useful visuals for brain regions associated with different aspects of social cognition.
  • This chart by Sylvia Morelli includes BA areas and coordinates associated with important brain regions.
  • These slides by Matt Lieberman also point to important brain regions