In humans and other mammals,the cerebral cortex is responsible for sensory, motor, or cognitive functions. Understanding the organization of the neuronal networks in the cortex should provide insights into the computations that they carry out. A study publishing on July 21st in open access journal PLOS Biology shows that the global architecture of the cortical networks in primates (with large brains) and rodents (with small brains) is organized by common principles. Despite the overall network invariances,primate brains have much weaker long-distance connections, which could elaborate why large brains are more susceptible to certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer disease.
Source: phys.org