Groupwise fMRI registration using multi-range functional connectivity patterns

The inter-subject alignment is an important precursor to improve consistency across subjects for statistical group analysis in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. To overcome the limitations of existing techniques and further improve inter-subject functional consistency, we propose a novel image registration method for fMRI data based on features of multi-range functional connectivity patterns. To simultaneously align fMRI data of a group of subjects, we also develop a groupwise registration scheme similar to the congealing technique. Experimental results based on simulated fMRI data have demonstrated that our method can achieve superior performance over existing fMRI image registration methods. Experiment results on real resting-state fMRI data have indicated that the proposed method can statistically significantly improve functional consistency across subjects.