World News Engine: Scientists find way to map brain’s complexity

Scientists find way to map brain’s complexity

SCIENTISTS has developed a technique to map both the connections and functions of nerve cells in the brain together for the first time, bringing them closer to creating a computer model of the human brain.
An emerging area of research in neuroscience known as ‘connectomics’ has parallels to genomics, which maps our genetic make-up. Connectomics aims to detail the brain’s synapses and plot how information travels through the brain.
Understanding how perceptions, sensations and thoughts are generated in the brain and how these functions go wrong, scientists hope to be able to diagnose and treat diseases such as
Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and effects of stroke.
The average human brain contains an average 150 trillion synapses and Dr Tom Mrsic-Flogel, University College London (UCL), has been leading a team of researchers trying to make sense of this complexity.
“How do we figure out how the brain’s neural circuitry works?” Flogel said in a statement. “We first need to understand the function of each neuron and find out to which other brain cells it connects.”
“If we can find a way of mapping the connections between nerve cells of certain functions, we will then be in a position to begin developing a computer model to explain how the complex dynamics of neural networks generate thoughts, sensations and movements.”
Nerve cells in different areas of the brain perform different functions. For example, some neurons in the visual cortex part of the brain specialize in detecting the edges in images. Some will activate upon detection of a horizontal edge, others by a vertical edge others respond to more complex visual features such as faces. However lesions to this area of the brain often prevent people from being able to recognize faces.

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