Abstract
There are currently largescale efforts to understand the brain as a connection machine. However, there has been little emphasis on understanding connection patterns between functionally specific cortical columns. Here, we review development and application of focal electrical and optical stimulation methods combined with optical imaging and fMRI mapping in the non-human primate. These new approaches, when applied systematically on a large scale, will elucidate functionally specific intra-areal and inter-areal network connection patterns. Such functionally specific network data can provide accurate views of brain network topology.
Highlights
In primates, much of brain volume is occupied by connections between different parts of the cerebral cortex
In the past few years, we have focused on developing in vivo functional tract tracing methods comprised of focal columnar stimulation coupled with optical or fMRI imaging, a method we view as a shortcut toward examining anatomical connectivity
We have explored three different functional tract tracing methods that can be presented at the columnar scale in a targeted, functionally specific fashion
Summary
In primates (both human and non-human), much of brain volume (up to 80%) is occupied by connections between different parts of the cerebral cortex. One aspect of these connectome studies that has largely been neglected is the fact that in humans and in primates, cerebral cortex is composed of basic functional columnar units These units are on the order of a few hundred microns in size and have specific functions (e.g., in visual cortex: processing visual color, shape, depth, or motion information) and are connected in networks with other cortical columns of similar or related functionality (Figure 1). Such columnar networks form a basic feature of primate brain architecture. There is controversy regarding what exactly defines the column, the ability to visualize modules of functionally distinct preference is a strong statement that there is modular organization
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