Power in Voxel-based Lesion-Symptom Mapping

Lesion analysis in brain-injured populations complements what can be learned from functional neuroimaging. Voxel-based approaches to mapping lesion-behavior correlations in brain-injured populations are increasingly popular, and have the potential to leverage image analysis methods drawn from functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, power is a major concern for these studies, and is likely to vary regionally due to the distribution of lesion locations. Here, we outline general considerations for voxel-based methods, characterize the use of a nonparametric permutation test adapted from functional neuroimaging, and present methods for regional power analysis in lesion studies.