Summary: Zilles & Amunts (2012)

Zilles & Amunts (2012) review Chen et al. (2012) and Wedeen et al. (2012) to understand how the human brain is constructed and organized beyond the functional and cellular details. They note that these two separate papers rely on analysis of fibre pathway spatial course and the cortex's genetic topography. They highlight that the two studies "find unifying hierarchical and geometric rules behind the organizational details". Zilles & Amunts (2012) note that the brain appears to be highly regionally differentiated, but is also hierarchically and geometrically organized in its spatial organisation (referred to as "canonical brain organization"). They also note that this type of organization is altered by the prevailing environmental conditions (e.g. pathology and genetic diversity). They suggest the use of mathematical models to help understand the factors driving phenotypic variation.