Blog: IBM Scientists Create Most Comprehensive Map of the Brain's Network

IBM Scientists Create Most Comprehensive Map of the Brain's Network
KurzweilAI.net (07/28/10)

IBM researchers have successfully mapped out the long-distance network of the brain of the Macaque monkey, which holds significant ramifications for reverse-engineering the brain and creating a network of cognitive computing chips. "We have collated a comprehensive, consistent, concise, coherent, and colossal network spanning the entire brain and grounded in anatomical tracing studies that is a stepping stone to both fundamental and applied research in neuroscience and cognitive computing," says IBM Almaden's Dharmendra S. Modha. The researchers concentrated on the long-distance network of nearly 400 brain regions and more than 6,600 long-distance brain connections that pass through the brain's white matter. The work builds on the publicly available Collation of Connectivity data on the Macaque brain database. The scientists' ranking of brain regions uncovered evidence suggesting that the prefrontal cortex is a functionally central part of the brain that might serve as an integrator and distributor of information. They determined that the brain network does not appear to be scale-free like Web social networks, but is exponential--a discovery that will help inform the design of a cognitive computing chip network's routing architecture.

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