Brodmann's
Interactive Atlas
Byron Bernal, MD*
Joanna
Perdomo**
INTRODUCTION
In the early 20th century
German neurologist Dr.
Korbinian Brodmann defined 52 regions of the cerebral cortex of humans
and monkeys that
appeared to have different cellular morphology and organization.
Over the
past century clinical findings and neurophysiological studies have
shown that these microstructural differences correlate well with
cortical function specialization.
The Brodmann's
Interactive Atlas facilitates fMRI analysis
understanding by providing access to all of the functions that have
been associated with each of the 52 Brodmann's areas or corresponding
gyri. Links to
main publications supporting the findings are provided in PubMed ID
format.
Brodmann's areas with similar functions and locations have
been
collapsed into a single page. The word left or right has been
added indicating a lateralized function.
We reviewed all the abstracts published on PubMed on fMRI and brain PET
studies in
which the Brodmann's area or its anatomical correlate were mentioned.
Abstracts with poorly described
experimental methods or findings clearly conflicting with established
knowledge provided by the clinical model were excluded.
Studies
on patients were also excluded. If there were
numerous
abstracts demonstrating a certain function, the note "many
articles" was placed
following a few citations.
Statistics:
Abstracts found: 3,666.
Abstracts discarded:
1,391.
Abstracts reviewed: 2,275. Abstracts specifically
cited:
869.
Times abstracts were collapsed ("many articles"): 49.
Top 3 areas cited: BA6; Hippocampal area (BA27-28, 34-36);
Anterior cingulate gyrus (BA24,25, 32,33).
Abstracts reviwed up to August 2008.
Peer-review
status:
Alfredo Ardila, PhD. Neuropsychologist. Florida
International University.
Acknowledgments:
Harshad Shanbhag, MS., neuroimage data analyst, for his
contribution with the MRI interactive page.
Dr. Nolan Altman,
MD., chief of the Radiology Department, for his permanent and
invaluable support.
Disclosure
The "Interact
with MRI" page utilizes the brain template and
Brodmann's segmentation included in MRIcro, by Chris Rorden (http://cnl.web.arizona.edu/mricro.htm),
modified to correct some temporal, and subcortical number encoding.
Brodmann's segmentation is approximate since it is not anatomical
based. Caution is advised.
* Byron Bernal, MD.
Neurologist, Neuroscientist.
** Joanna Perdomo, Intern, neuroscience. MCH, 2008
Miami Children's Hospital. Department of Radiology / Brain
Institute. August, 2008. All rights reserved.