On July 20, 2016, a research team led by Dr. Matthew Glasser published a new map of our brain in Nature Magazine, titled “A multi-modal parcellation of human cerebral cortex,” which reveals almost one-hundred previously uncharacterized regions of the brain.4 Although the new zones have been identified, scientists have not yet discovered the functions of the new regions. According to Dr. Glasser, “This map you should think of as version 1.0. There may be a version 2.0 as the data get better and more eyes look at the data. We hope the map can evolve as the science progresses” 3.
In 2013, Dr. Glasser and his colleagues began using the Human Connectome Project’s (HCP) database of 1,200 volunteers to compare their functional MRI brain scans while the participants were performing a variety of functions: memory, attention, and language.2 The HCP’s goal is to determine the specific neural pathways that underlie brain function and behavior by analyzing many different aspects of the brain simultaneously (e.g the architecture, function, connectivity or topography). The simultaneous analysis of neuronal data is what differentiates Dr. Glasser’s work from previous attempts to map the brain. In the past, scientists could only compare one aspect of the brain, such as the architecture, function, connectivity or topography.1 The combination of different types of data allowed for more regions to be determined.
Our Brain Just Got a Whole Lot More Complicated
While the brain looks like a messy gray mass of folded clay, it is actually partitioned into numerous specialized regions. Some regions are excited by a familiar face, others by touching a hot stove, and others by feeling the brisk wind on a winter day. These functional zones were originally codified by the German anatomist Dr. Korbinian Brodmann in 1909 based on histologic slide observations and have been gradually refined ever since.
By: Sohan Shah