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1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
Medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to visual-
ize the anatomical structure of the brain. Not only the anatomy is of interest, but also func-
tional measurements of neural activity that help to understand how the brain functions. One
tool to gather such data is functional MRI (fMRI).
The cortex is a convoluted sheet in three-space. When looking at the human brain, the
cortical surface with its many folds can be seen. The folds make it difficult to evaluate spatial
relationships between different points on the cortical surface. In addition, the view into the
sulci is obstructed by the gyri. Methods are available that allow to flatten the cortex computa-
tionally. It can then be displayed and viewed as a two-dimensional image. In addition to visu-
alizing just the anatomy as a two-dimensional image, functional (fMRI) data can be overlaid
onto a flattened anatomical image. The resulting functional flat maps improve the visualiza-
tion in certain cases.
The visual cortex can be divided into distinct functional regions called visual areas. It is
useful to identify the visual areas, i.e., to find the boundaries between visual areas, in order to
compare measurements between observers with respect to functional organization of the brain.
Functional images, recorded when observing certain visual stimuli, can be used to segregate
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