New brain map more than doubles charted regions of the human noggin

Scientists announced Wednesday they had doubled the number of areas identified in the brain’s outer shell, having mapped 180 different regions in the cortex. Published in Nature, the updated map will serve as a new reference atlas to assist in the ongoing study of brain structure, function and connectivity. “It’s a step towards understanding why we’re we”, David Kleinfeld, a neuroscientist at the University of California, told The New York Times (he was not involved in the study).

Along with advanced scanners, scientists ran artificial intelligence programs that “learned” the hidden regions of the brain by monitoring data from 210 adult subjects.

This new atlas can not be considered as the final when it comes to brain’s workings.

The landmark achievement hands neuroscientists their most comprehensive map of the cortex so far, one that is expected to supersede Brodmann’s as the standard researchers use to talk about the various areas of the brain. But more than left-brain or right-brain, they were able to pinpoint at least 180 different regions that flare up when we do different activities. Global maps help us in making sense of the world’s byways.

After the patients’ death, Broca studied their brains. This part of the brain is also the most outer layer that deals with language, sensory perception, and abstract thought. At the moment nobody knows how many regions there are in the brain or what form the regions take.

That map identified 97 additional cortex areas per hemisphere, for a total of 180. In 1907, Korbinian Brodmann published a catalog of 52 brain regions.

“We were able to persuade Nature to put online nearly 200 extra pages of detailed information on each of the 180 regions as well as all of the algorithms we used to align the brains and create the map”, Van Essen said.

Still, Glasser says that this is simply the latest draft of the map. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health as part of the Human “Connectome” Project, referring to the connections within the brain. Neurosurgeons at Washington University already use less detailed individual brain maps when preparing for surgery to avoid damaging the most important areas, such as those involved in language or motor function. Each has a unique microstructural architecture (including thickness of the cortex), plus a unique pattern of activity and connectivity with other brain areas. But this one is extraordinary because of the level of precision.

“We have 112 different types of information we can tap into”, said David C. Van Essen, a principal investigator with the Human Connectome Project at Washington University Medical School.

Yet scientists still disagree on how many brain regions there are – even more so on what each of them do.

Similarly, the team compared all 210 brains.

In the end, the computer identified the regions in these other brains 96.6 percent of the time.

“In the future, researchers with better methods will subdivide that area”, Glasser added.

“We characterized 97 new areas and 83 areas previously reported using post-mortem microscopy or other specialized study-specific approaches”. Another architectural measure we used to identify was the amount of insulation around the connections between neurons. But the finding was soon neglected.

Van Essen said the project had so far met with interest and enthusiasm.

Although they are sure of what they have done, the refining points are always welcome of new and improved scientists since there’s still so much yet to be discovered about the brain. Twelve of the research subjects, for example, have a 55b region that’s split into two isolated patches. The research could be the basis for a universal brain map and lead to a better understanding of the brain.

Scientists have finally managed to come up with a more detailed plan of the human brain by using the brain scans of a large number of human beings.