Figure 6

Calculating net activation in brain nuclei. Anatomic structures in the brain are connected to other structures via neural tracts, whose net effect on a particular brain nucleus is either excitatory or inhibitory. The net activation of a particular nucleus is calculated by summing all incoming excitatory connections and subtracting the incoming inhibitory connections, and assuming equal weight for each connection (+1 for excitation and -1 for inhibition). In this example, the tract connecting substantia nigra to putamen is deranged, and its inhibitory input to putamen is lacking. Thus, there is net activation of the putamen ("+1").