Dear David, there are a number of functions that read header and data from NIfTI image files: - spm_vol (reads header) - spm_read_vols (reads entire 3D/4D datasets) - spm_sample_vol (sample at specific coordinates) - spm_slice_vol (sample slices) While spm_read_vols is a "brute force" solution, spm_sample_vol and spm_slice_vol are much more elegant if you don't need entire volumes or if your data comes in different voxel sizes or orientations. A good example for spm_slice_vol usage is the code of spm_imcalc, the "Image Calculator". Best, Volkmar