Table 1.

The proposed framework for areal analyses addresses a number of potential problems that may arise along the processing pipeline.

Processing step	Problem	Solution
Measurements assigned to vertices at the beginning of the analysis.	Vertices do not hold or convey the same spatial information as the original faces.	Analyze the faces directly.
Registration methods that not necessarily produce smooth and invertible warps.	Discontinuities on expansion or contraction that are not present in the actual brain.	Use diffeomorphic registration methods.
Interpolation based on points.	Areal quantities are not preserved at any scale (local, regional or global).	Use areal interpolation.
Use of a standard brain to compute the same measurement that is later analyzed.	Results are interpretable only with respect to that same reference brain.	Measure and analyze absolute quantities, not relative to some reference.
Statistical analysis based on assumption of normality.	The local surface area follows a lognormal distribution.	Apply a data transformation. Use non-parametric methods.