New areas of brain structure identified

NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led team of scientists says it's found four areas of the precuneus structure of monkey and human brains that had been thought to be a single structure.

Led by scientists at New York University's Langone Medical Center, researchers said they used a new approach called "resting state" functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging that produces a map of brain networks from only six minutes of data from a person at rest.

The authors said results of the brief fMRI sessions were consistent with well-established findings in monkeys examined microscopically.

The precuneus areas are located in the back of each brain hemisphere's inner wall. The scientists said recent studies have shown the precuneus has important roles in higher-level cognitive functions, including episodic memory, reasoning, and consciousness.

"The findings confirm that higher order association areas in the brain have complex functional architectures which appear to be preserved and or expanded during the evolutionary process," said NYU Assistant Professor Michael Milham, one of the study's authors.

He said modern technology, such as fMRI, gives researchers "a powerful tool for translational science, making comparative studies of the brain's functional neuroanatomy studies across species possible,"

The research is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.