Plots of contrast estimates of brain activity in three groups of subjects: healthy controls (HC), relapsing-remitting (RRMS) MS patients and secondary progressive (SPMS) MS patients, centered on the activity peaks of the average effect of conditions (activation in red, deactivation in blue) by ANOVA (p<0.05 FWE corrected at cluster level).

<p>Plots show that significant differences in brain activation between groups in the left precentral (cluster maxima at −36, −30, 60) cortex and in the left supplementary motor area (SMA) (cluster maxima at 4, −6, 66) was due to increased activation in SPMS than in RRMS and in RRMS than in HC (top). Plots show that significant differences in brain deactivation between groups in the left precuneus (cluster maxima at −24, −90, 34) was due to greater deactivation in the RRMS than in the other two groups whereas in the ipsilateral motor cortex (cluster maxima at 36, −12, 36), deactivation was greater in HC rather than in patients (bottom). (All coordinates refer to the MNI standard brain).