Brain atlases and parcellations serve distinct yet complementary roles in neuroimaging, with atlases typically providing standard macroanatomical reference frameworks and parcellations defining discrete functional or structural regions for network analysis.
The retrieved literature consistently distinguishes between broad brain atlases (which provide standardized anatomical frameworks, structural templates, and multi-modal reference spaces) and brain parcellations (which divide the brain into discrete operational parcels based on functional connectivity, cytoarchitecture, or boundary mapping). The papers support the claim that these tools fulfill different anatomical mapping and analytical functions.