I am interested in running a VBM analysis (either with FSL or CAT12) but I was wondering if it’s possible to run it with a specific template that I’ve been using for another set of analyses to keep my study consistent, instead of the study-specific group template (which seems to be standard protocol in the fsl-vbm/cat12 pipeline).
Are there any major cons to using another template (MIITRA) rather than the study-specific one?
Is it even possible to run the pipeline without creating the study-specific group template?
Study specific templates have the advantage that registrations to this template tend to be more successful, since the template is derived from the subjects that are ultimately registered to it. But it is not a necessity in morphometry. For example, FreeSurfer by default uses fsaverage as the common registration target, which is a template derived from different subjects. It is largely applicable across a large age range for typical (i.e., not deformed) brains, probably due to the benefits of surface-based, compared to volumetric-based, registration.
I am not sure (I use surface-based morphometry in FreeSurfer primarily), but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible.