Abstract
Human and macaque cortex differ markedly in surface area (nine-fold), in their pattern of convolutions, and in the relationship of cortical areas to these convolutions. Nonetheless, there are numerous similarities and putative homologies in cortical organization revealed by architectonic and other anatomical methods and more recently by noninvasive functional imaging methods. There are also differences in functional organization, particularly in regions of rapid evolutionary expansion in the human lineage. This presentation will highlight recent progress in applying surface-based analysis and visualization methods that provide a powerful general approach for comparisons among primate species, including the macaque, chimpanzee, and human. One major facet involves surface-based atlases that are substrates for increasingly accurate cortical parcellations in each species as well as maps of functional organization revealed using resting-state and task-evoked fMRI. Additional insights into cortical parcellations as well as evolutionary relationships are provided by myelin maps that have been obtained noninvasively in each species. Together, these multiple modalities provide new insights regarding visual cortical organization in each species. Surface-based registration provides a key method for making objective interspecies comparisons, using explicit landmarks that represent known or candidate homologies between areas. Recent algorithmic improvements in landmark-based registration, coupled with refinements in the available set of candidate homologies, provide a fresh perspective on primate cortical evolution and species differences in the pattern of evolutionary expansion.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2012