Cortical Surface Reconstruction and Visualization

It's all about cortical processing and forebrain specialization.

Now this cortical folding presents a significant challenge for interpreting surface electrical impulses.

Now actually we've looked in several different cortical areas in the monkey learning this task.

There are 15 or 20 cortical areas that are changed specifically when you learn a simple skill like this.

So for example we can look to the cortical area that represents input that's controlling the posture of the monkey.

We look in cortical areas that control specific movements, and the sequences of movements that are required in the behavior, and so forth.

But actually if you look at melody, what you find is that there's very little cortical activity in implant users compared with normal hearing controls.

In other words there is still a single, simple representation of the fingertips in this most organized of cortical areas of the surface of the skin of the body.

And there's actually a cortical arousal we're looking at, because guys have been with guys in teams, in clubs, in gangs, in fraternities, especially in the military, and then in pubs.

That says to me, at least in rats and I think they have the same neurotransmitters that we do and a similar cortical architecture that play may be pretty important for our survival.

Thus, although a true synaptome of the mammalian brain is a chimerical quest, it is possible that in the near future we will be able to construct a silicon cortex, a computerized machine based on a realistic model of the complete anatomical, physiological, and molecular design of the cortical circuit. If we succeed, we will finally be able to see the forest without having to look for every tree.