Dear FreeSurfers,

I read that criticism about the thalamic nuclei segmentation based on T1-images was raised (DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119340 and DOI: 10.1162/imag_a_00166) as overlaps with the Morel stereotactic atlas were not always satisfying. However, I was wondering whether the segmentations with the Morel atlas (registered to MNI space) of individual thalami can be considered a proper validation since individual variation of thalamic nuclei sizes are not taken into account and the atlas is not probabilistic. 

Can someone elaborate on this criticism?

Thank you, Melissa