A constrained multivariate model is introduced for fMRI group-level analysis to increase the sensitivity in group activation detection by incorporating local neighboring information. Results from both simulated data and real episodic memory data indicate that a higher detection sensitivity for a fixed specificity can be achieved in group-level activation detection with the proposed method. Applying multivariate analysis in both subject and group levels of analysis can further improve the activation detection performance. Statistical thresholds for significance of the group-inferences in the multivariate method are computed non-parametrically.
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