action observation

An automated meta-analysis of 90 studies

Color palette: Positive/Negative:

Studies associated with action observation

Title Authors Journal Loading

Term-based meta-analyses: Frequently Asked Questions

This page displays information for an automated Neurosynth meta-analysis of the term "action observation". The meta-analysis was performed by automatically identifying all studies in the Neurosynth database that loaded highly on the term, and then performing meta-analyses to identify brain regions that were consistently or preferentially reported in the tables of those studies.

What do the "forward inference" and "reverse inference" maps mean?

For a detailed explanation, please see our Yarkoni et al (2011). In brief, the forward inference map displays brain regions that are consistently active in studies that load highly on the term "action observation". Regions with large z-scores are reported more often than one would expect them to be if activation anywhere in the brain was equally likely. Note that this is typically not so interesting, because it turns out that some brain regions are consistently reported in a lot of different kinds of studies (again, see our paper). So as a general rule of thumb, we don't recommend paying much attention to forward inference maps.

Reverse inference maps are, roughly, maps displaying brain regions that are preferentially related to the term action observation. The reverse inference map for action observation displays regions that are reported more often in articles that include the term action observation in their abstracts than articles that do not. Most of the time this a much more useful way of thinking about things, since reverse inference maps tell you, in some sense, which brain regions are more diagnostic of the term in question, and not just which regions are consistently activated in studies associated with that term.

How do you determine which studies to include in an analysis?


Are these maps corrected for multiple comparisons?


