Spatial normalization is an image processing step, more specifically an image registration method. Human brains differ in size and shape, and one goal of spatial normalization is to deform human brain scans so one location in one subject's brain scan corresponds to the same location in another subject's brain scan. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In computer vision, sets of data acquired by sampling the same scene or object at different times, or from different perspectives, will be in different coordinate systems. ...

It is often performed in research-based functional neuroimaging with multiple human subjects. The brain scan can be obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. Functional neuroimaging is the use of brain imaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions. ... Magnetic Resonance Image showing a vertical cross section through a human head. ... Image of a typical positron emission tomography (PET) facility Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine medical imaging technique which produces a three dimensional image or map of functional processes in the body. ...

There are two steps in the spatial normalization process:

• Specification/estimation of warp-field
• Application of warp-field with resampling

The estimation of the warp-field can be performed in one modality, e.g., MRI, and be applied in another modality, e.g., PET, if MRI and PET scans exist for the same subject and they are coregistered.

Spatial normalization typically employ a 3-dimensional nonrigid transformation model (a "warp-field") for warping a brain scan to a template. The warp-field might be parametrized by basis functions such as cosine and polynomia. There are a number of programs that implements both estimation and application of a warp-field. It is a part of the SPM and AIR programs. The abbreviation SPM can be: The rapper, South Park Mexican Statistical parametric mapping, a method for analysing data from functional neuroimaging studies Summary for policymakers of the IPCC reports. ...