Repository files navigation

   ___  ____  __  __  / __)(  _ \(  \/  )    \__ \ )___/ )    (   Statistical Parametric Mapping  (___/(__)  (_/\/\_)  SPM - https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/

This README gives a brief introduction to the SPM software. Full detailscan be found on theSPM website.

See alsoContents.m,AUTHORS.txt andLICENCE.

Statistical Parametric Mapping is the construction and assessment ofspatially extended statistical processes used to test hypotheses aboutfunctional imaging data. These ideas have been instantiated in afree and open source software that is called SPM.

The SPM software package has been designed for the analysis of brainimaging data sequences. The sequences can be a series of images fromdifferent cohorts, or time-series from the same subject. The currentrelease is designed for the analysis of fMRI, PET, SPECT, EEG and MEG.

SPM is made freely available to the [neuro]imaging community, to promotecollaboration and a common analysis scheme across laboratories.

The SPM software is a suite of MATLAB functions, scripts and data files,with some externally compiled C routines, implementing StatisticalParametric Mapping. For the best experience, we recommend runningSPM using MATLAB, a commercial engineering mathematics package.MATLAB is produced byMathWorks, Natick, MA,USA. Standalone versions of SPM thatdo not require MATLAB are also available.

SPM requires only core MATLAB to run (no special toolboxes are required).

SPM is tested using the versions of MATLAB from the last 4-5 years.Binaries of the external C-MEX routines are provided for Windows, Linuxand Mac. The source code is supplied and can be compiled with a Ccompiler (Makefile provided). Seehttps://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/software/spm12/ for details.

Although SPM will read image files from previous versions of SPM, thereare differences in the algorithms, templates and models used. Therefore,we recommend you use a single SPM version for any given project.

SPM uses the NIFTI-1 data format as standard. Take a look athttps://nifti.nimh.nih.gov/ for more information on the NIFTI-1 fileformat.

The old SPM2 version of Analyze format can be read straight into SPM,but results will be written out as NIFTI-1. If you still use this format,then it is important that you ensure thatspm_flip_analyze_images hasbeen set appropriately for your data.

The MINC and ECAT7 formats can not be read straight into SPM, althoughconversion utilities have been provided. Similarly, a number of DICOMflavours can also be converted to NIFTI-1 using tools in SPM.

The SPM documentation website is the central repository for SPM resources:https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/docs/

Introductory material, installation details, documentation and course detailsare published on the site.

There is an SPM email discussion list, hosted atspm@jiscmail.ac.uk.The list is monitored by the authors, and discusses theoretical,methodological and practical issues of Statistical Parametric Mapping andSPM. The SPM website has further details:https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/support/

Please report bugs via theIssues pageon SPM's Github repository.

SPM is developed under the auspices of the Methods Group at the FunctionalImaging Laboratory (FIL), within the Department of Imaging Neuroscience,UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London (UCL), UK.

SPM94 was written primarily by Karl Friston in the first half of 1994,with assistance from John Ashburner (MRC-CU), Jon Heather (WDoIN), andAndrew Holmes (Department of Statistics, University of Glasgow).Subsequent development, under the direction of Prof. Karl Friston at theWellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, has benefited fromsubstantial input (technical and theoretical) from: John Ashburner(WDoIN), Andrew Holmes (WDoIN & Robertson Centre for Biostatistics,University of Glasgow, Scotland), Jean-Baptiste Poline (WDoIN &CEA/DRM/SHFJ, Orsay, France), Christian Buechel (WDoIN), Matthew Brett(MRC-CBU, Cambridge, England), Chloe Hutton (WDoIN) and Keith Worsley(Department of Statistics, McGill University, Montreal Canada).

SeeAUTHORS.txt for a complete list of SPM co-authors.

We would like to thank everyone who has provided feedback on SPM.

SPM is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under theterms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free SoftwareFoundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any laterversion.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, butWITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITYor FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public Licensefor more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License alongwith this program. If not, seehttps://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

SPM is supplied as is: No formal support or maintenance is provided orimplied.

Copyright (C) 1991,1994-2025 Functional Imaging Laboratory