New approaches for coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies

Functional neuroimaging has enabled the detailed, in-vivo delineation of functional and dysfunctional activity in the human brain. The amount of inference, however, that can be drawn from each individual study is limited by inherent drawbacks such as the small sample sizes and low reliability. Additionally, all neuroimaging findings pertain to a specific contrast between experimental conditions, while the actual goal is to elucidate general organisational principles of brain (dys-) function. However, given the ever-increasing number of studies in human brain mapping, an abundance of data is now ready to be synth…