A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences took
a major step in unraveling the brain tissue by examining a small part of the
brain of mice as reported by ScienceDaily.
Network connections in the brain previously thought too complex to
describe, but molecular biology and computing methods have evolved to the point
where the National Institutes of Health announced a $ 30 million plan to map
the "connectome" man.
The study shows the power of a new method for tracing brain
circuits. USC College neurologist Richard H. Thompson and Larry W. Swanson used
the method to trace circuits associated with the enjoyment of food. The circuit appears as a round circular patterns which indicate
that at least in this part of the rat brain, a network diagram looks like a
distributed network.
The neurologist is divided between those with the traditional view
that the brain is organized in a hierarchical most parts supply centers of
higher consciousness, and those with a more recent view that the brain is a
flat network similar to the Internet.
"We started in one place and see the connections. It led to a
series of very complicated from the rotation and the circuit. It is not a
diagram that is organization. There is no up and down," said Swanson who
is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Professor in Milo Don and
Lucille Appleman part of Biological Sciences at USC College.
Other brain circuitry tracking research is currently focused only
on the signal, one direction, one location."We can see up to four relationships in one circuit on the
same animal at the same time. It is our technological innovation," said
Swanson.The Internet model would explain the brain's ability to overcome
much local damage, Swanson said."You can knock out almost any part of the Internet and other
parts still work."
"There are usually alternate pathways along the nervous
system. It is difficult to say that any part of the total is very
important," said Swanson. Swanson's first rebuttal of the distribution model of the brain
appeared in his book Brain Architecture: Understanding the Basic Plan (Oxford
University Press, 2003). The PNAS study appears to support his view. "There is an alternative model. It has not been proven, but
let us think back to the traditional way of how the brain works," he said.
"The part of the brain cortex that you feel is very important
is not the only part of the nerve that determines our behavior." The research described in the PNAS study was supported by the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National
Institutes of Health.
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