June 1, 2023 – The shape of the brain may play an even bigger role in our thoughts, feelings and actions than previously thought, in keeping with a brand new study within the journal Nature.
Researchers in Australia took MRI scans of the brains of 255 people while they were, for instance, tapping their fingers or remembering a series of images.
The researchers also examined 10,000 maps of brain activity from greater than 1,000 experiments around the globe to learn more about how brain shape affects brain function.
Computer models were then used to analyze how size and shape affect brain waves.
“The comparison showed that the new model provided a more accurate reconstruction of the brain activity shown in the MRI scans and brain activity maps than the previous model,” NBC News reported. “James Pang, the study's lead author and a research fellow at Monash University in Australia, compared the importance of brain shape to a pebble creating ripples in a pond: the size and shape of the pond helps determine the nature of those ripples.”
Pang said that while neural interaction is very important, the form of the brain's surface could also be much more crucial to the way it functions.
He also said the form of the brain is less complicated to measure than its wiring, which may lead to recent research opportunities.
NBC found that not all scientists agree with the research.
“To say this theory is controversial would be an understatement. It really needs to be put through its paces to critically assess whether it stands the test of time,” says David Van Essen, professor of neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis.