TY  - JOUR
AU  - Eickhoff, Simon
AU  - Constable, R. Todd
AU  - Yeo, B. T. Thomas
TI  - Topographic organization of the cerebral cortex and brain cartography
JO  - NeuroImage
VL  - 170
SN  - 1053-8119
CY  - Orlando, Fla.
PB  - Academic Press
M1  - FZJ-2017-02060
SP  - 332-347
PY  - 2018
AB  - One of the most specific but also challenging properties of the brain is its topographic organization into distinct modules or cortical areas. In this paper, we first review the concept of topographic organization and its historical development. Next, we provide a critical discussion of the current definition of what constitutes a cortical area, why the concept has been so central to the field of neuroimaging and the challenges that arise from this view. A key aspect in this discussion is the issue of spatial scale and hierarchy in the brain. Focusing on in-vivo brain parcellation as a rapidly expanding field of research, we highlight potential limitations of the classical concept of cortical areas in the context of multi-modal parcellation and propose a revised interpretation of cortical areas building on the concept of neurobiological atoms that may be aggregated into larger units within and across modalities. We conclude by presenting an outlook on the implication of this revised concept for future mapping studies and raise some open questions in the context of brain parcellation.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:28219775
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000429940900027
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.018
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/828046
ER  -