This is the map that never ends...
Ever looked at a map, and the street you’re standing on isn’t there? Time for an update! Until recently, neuroscientists relied on a 100-year-old brain map. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, have published a much more detailed map of the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer responsible for sense perception, attention, language, tool use, and abstract thinking.
The new map emerged from the Human Connectome Project, a five-year effort to map the brains of 1,200 young adults using MRIs. While the previous map showed 50 regions, the new map presents 180, based on physical differences, functional differences (e.g., differing responses to a stimulus), and connectivity to other regions. On the surface, regions look identical, so the brain map “is…
