Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Brodmann's Map -- 101 years old

In celebration of the centenary of the publication of Korbinian Brodmann's famous map, Karl Zilles & Katrin Amunts have just published a great little piece on its history and current influence (too bad Nature Reviews Neuroscience couldn't have brought it to press in 2009). The paper highlights some interesting tidbits, like the influence of evolutionary theory on Brodmann's work, how Brodmann's map relates to those that followed, how it lost favor and how it was given new life with the advent of functional imaging. The paper even features an interview with Korbinian himself (fictitious, of course).

Beyond the interesting historical perspective, the article underscores the pitfalls associated with over-interpreting Brodmann areas in functional imaging studies, but also emphasizes the importance of anatomy in developing models of the organization of the cerebral cortex.


Zilles K, & Amunts K (2010). Centenary of Brodmann's map - conception and fate. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 11 (2), 139-45 PMID: 20046193

No comments: