Projection of fMRI data onto the cortical surface using anatomically-informed convolution kernels

As surface-based data analysis offer an attractive approach for intersubject matching and comparison, the projection of voxel-based 3D volumes onto the cortical surface is an essential problem. We present here a method that aims at producing representations of functional brain data on the cortical surface from functional MRI volumes. Such representations are for instance required for subsequent cortical-based functional analysis. We propose a projection technique based on the definition, around each node of the gray/white matter interface mesh, of convolution kernels whose shape and distribution rely on the geometry of the local anatomy. For one anatomy, a set of convolution kernels is computed that can be used to project any functional data registered with this anatomy. Therefore resulting in anatomically-informed projections of data onto the cortical surface, this kernel-based approach offers better sensitivity, specificity than other classical methods and robustness to misregistration errors. Influences of mesh and volumes spatial resolutions were also estimated for various projection techniques, using simulated functional maps. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.