Cortical Surface-Based Analysis

t t v T d t n a 1 s M 1 t R Several properties of the cerebral cortex, including ts columnar and laminar organization, as well as the opographic organization of cortical areas, can only be roperly understood in the context of the intrinsic wo-dimensional structure of the cortical surface. In rder to study such cortical properties in humans, it is ecessary to obtain an accurate and explicit represenation of the cortical surface in individual subjects. ere we describe a set of automated procedures for btaining accurate reconstructions of the cortical surace, which have been applied to data from more than 00 subjects, requiring little or no manual intervenion. Automated routines for unfolding and flattening he cortical surface are described in a companion aper. These procedures allow for the routine use of ortical surface-based analysis and visualization methds in functional brain imaging. r 1999 Academic Press