Discovering the Human Connectome - 9780262017909

Crucial to understanding how the brain works is connectivity, and the centerpiece ofbrain connectivity is the connectome, a comprehensive description of how neuronsand brain regions are connected. The human brain is a network of extraordinary complexity--a networknot by way of metaphor, but in a precise and mathematical sense: an intricate web of billions ofneurons connected by trillions of synapses. How this network is connected is important for virtuallyall facets of the brain's integrative function. In this book, Olaf Sporns surveys current efforts tochart these connections--to map the human connectome. Sporns, a pioneer in the field who was thefirst to define and use the term "connectome," argues that the nascent field ofconnectomics has already begun to influence the way many neuroscientists collect, analyze, and thinkabout their data. Moreover, the idea of mapping the connections of the human brain in their entiretyhas captured the imaginations of researchers across several disciplines including human cognition,brain and mental disorders, and complex systems and networks. Sporns describes the biological andconceptual foundations of the connectome; the many research challenges it faces; the manycutting-edge empirical strategies, from electron microscopy to magnetic resonance imaging, deployedto map brain connectivity; the relationship between structure and function; and the wide array ofnetwork computational approaches to connectomics. Discovering the HumanConnectome offers the first comprehensive overview of current empirical and computationalapproaches in this rapidly developing field.