Coordinate‐based activation likelihood estimation meta‐analysis of neuroimaging data: A random‐effects approach based on empirical estimates of spatial uncertainty

A widely used technique for coordinate-based meta-analyses of neuroimaging data is activation likelihood estimation (ALE). ALE assesses the overlap between foci based on modeling them as probability distributions centered at the respective coordinates. In this Human Brain Project/Neuroinformatics research, the authors present a revised ALE algorithm addressing drawbacks associated with former implementations. The first change pertains to the size of the probability distributions, which had to be specified by the used. To provide a more principled solution, the authors analyzed fMRI data of 21 subjects, each normalized into MNI space using nine different approaches. This analysis provided quantitative estimates…

• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• NI
  National Institute of Mental Health