Functional optimality of the sulcus pattern of the human brain
| Autor: | S. Heyden, Michael Ortiz |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Computer science Information Theory FOS: Physical sciences Topology General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine medicine Biological neural network Humans Physics - Biological Physics General Environmental Science Cerebral Cortex Pharmacology General Immunology and Microbiology Artificial neural network Basis (linear algebra) Quantitative Biology::Neurons and Cognition Applied Mathematics General Neuroscience General Medicine Human brain Function (mathematics) Models Theoretical Sulcus 030104 developmental biology medicine.anatomical_structure Transmission (telecommunications) Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) FOS: Biological sciences 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis Modeling and Simulation Quantitative Biology - Neurons and Cognition Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC) Nerve Net Reciprocal |
| Popis: | We develop a mathematical model of information transmission across the biological neural network of the human brain. The overall function of the brain consists of the emergent processes resulting from the spread of information through the neural network. The capacity of the brain is therefore related to the rate at which it can transmit information through the neural network. The particular transmission model under consideration allows for information to be transmitted along multiple paths between points of the cortex. The resulting transmission rates are governed by potential theory. According to this theory, the brain has preferred and quantized transmission modes that correspond to eigenfunctions of the classical Steklov eigenvalue problem, with the reciprocal eigenvalues quantifying the corresponding transmission rates. We take the model as a basis for testing the hypothesis that the sulcus pattern of the human brain has evolved to maximize the rate of transmission of information between points in the cerebral cortex. We show that the introduction of sulci, or cuts, in an otherwise smooth domain indeed increases the overall transmission rate. We demonstrate this result by means of numerical experiments concerned with a spherical domain with a varying number of slits on its surface. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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