Functional Organization of Primate Cerebral Cortex

David C. Van Essen
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis Missouri, USA

Imaging the Brain: Neurons, Networks and Behavior
September 5-7, 2003
New York University
Center for Neural Science

Abstract

In order to analyze the detailed arrangement of cortical areas and regions of functional specialization in monkeys and humans, we have used high-resolution structural MRI volumes to generate surface-based atlases of macaque and human cortex. These atlases serve as repositories for a growing body of anatomical and functional data obtained in each species. The macaque atlas currently includes a dozen published partitioning schemes, plus information from fMRI studies and connectivity studies. The human atlas includes multiple partitioning schemes plus activation patterns from many neuroimaging studies. Human and macaque cerebral cortex differ in many ways, including their total surface area (10-fold difference), the overall pattern of cortical convolutions, and the location of particular areas (e.g., area V1) in relation to gyral and sulcal landmarks. Comparisons across species can be facilitated using surface-based registration constrained by landmarks based on regions that are known or suspected to be homologous. Our findings to date support the hypothesis that there are numerous similarities in the functional organization of macaque and human cortex. However, there are also striking species differences, not only in frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex, but even in occipital regions at intermediate stages of visual processing.

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