Precentral gyrus discrepancy in electronic versions of the Talairach atlas

Abstract

Electronic versions of the atlas of Talairach and Tournoux, including the Talairach Daemon and the official versions published by Thieme, contain a discrepant region of the precentral gyrus on axial slice +35 mm that extends far forward into the frontal lobe. This area is anatomically incorrect and internally inconsistent within the digital atlas software applications using their multiplanar cross-referencing tools. By cross-referencing the axial, sagittal, and coronal plates from the original printed atlas, we demonstrate that the discrepant area should be labeled middle frontal gyrus. The mislabeled portion encompasses a 3 × 1.5-cm region in the axial plane and has significant implications for sensorimotor studies that rely on the digital atlases for anatomic labeling.