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Visualizing the Brain: A Novel Approach
The convoluted, wrinkly, and mysterious shape of the brain
has boggled scientists and inspired wonderers for hundreds of years. While the advent of psychological and neurological studies have begun to demystify this gray matter, scientists have just barely skimmed the surface. If understanding the brain was analogous to a person walking a mile, they would have only taken a few steps in this exploratory journey.
The shape of the brain has been marvelously and meticulously crafted by evolution for millions of years. Increasing in size and complexity with the advent of new species and behaviors, the brain has been warped, expanded and compressed by the growing bodies that hold it. The human brain evolved in a sort of curve, as apes and hominids evolved to be upright. Spatial constraint within the skull inspired folds — sulci and gyri — in order to maximize surface area. Regions within the brain became specialized embedded circuits, performing in patterns relative to the rest of the brain, such that behaviors became complicated within social animals, even up to the point of human society.
As neuroscientists sought for means to understand the brain, a leading theory spearheaded the field: behavioral function is regionally located within the brain. This began with the idea of phrenology. Phrenologists believed that superficial…
