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Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2008 3(3):290-297; doi:10.1093/scan/nsn029
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© 2008 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the originalwork is properly cited.

Group comparisons: imaging the aging brain

Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin1 and Mark D’Esposito2

1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, and 2Henry H. Wheeler, Jr Brain Imaging Center, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

With the recent growth of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists across a range of disciplines are comparing neural activity between groups of interest, such as healthy controls and clinical patients, children and young adults and younger and older adults. In this edition of Tools of the Trade, we will discuss why great caution must be taken when making group comparisons in studies using fMRI. Although many methodological contributions have been made in recent years, the suggestions for overcoming common issues are too often overlooked. This review focuses primarily on neuroimaging studies of healthy aging, but many of the issues raised apply to other group designs as well.

Keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging; group studies; aging; hemodynamics; spatial normalization; ROI

Correspondence should be addressed to Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin, Department of Psychology, Jordan Hall, Building 420, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA. E-mail: glarkin{at}stanford.edu.

Received April 27, 2008. Accepted August 1, 2008.


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