> For LME, the conditional distribution of the response is assumed to be normal.
Right.
> "0.5*M +0.5*F ag" and "1*M -1*F age"? Why 0.5? Why 1?
Actually it's the same as
"age :"
which is the overall age effect (averaging across the two genders).
> I am not sure of the meaning of the first sub-bricks for each glt:
> -- At sub-brick #4 '05MF' datum type is float
> -- At sub-brick #5 '05MF Z' datum type is float
The sub-brick #4 is the age effect while #5 is the statistical evidence for age effect.
> I assumed that the second is the z-score. Then, I should work on the z-score for clustering and mutli- comparison correction?
It's Z-statistic, not Z-score. Yes, you can use the Z-statistic as statistical evidence.
> Finally, base on the results of the analysis I should choose "manually" what is the best distribution?
> "0.5*M +0.5*F ag" and "1*M -1*F age", only F or M?
It's the overall age effect for both genders.
> Weirdly, I find, for example, a positive z-score in one of the regions of interest with "0.5*M +0.5*F age", "1F" and "1M".
> And a negative z-score "1*M -1*F age"
> Does it sound normal?
Nothing abnormal here because "1*M -1*F age" is the age effect difference between the two genders.
Gang