Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.neural-nets
Subject: Re: subnet specialization
Message-ID: <15490@cup.portal.com>
Date: 7 Mar 89 07:50:47 GMT
References: <1294@hub.ucsb.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 15

The human brain is not at all a homogeneous organ.  It is only homogeneous
at the local level.  The brain is like hundreds or perhaps thousands of
separate organs.

The largest homogeneous structure is the cerebellum, where a small number
of neurons form a group which is repeated across the whole organ.

The transition between one organ of the cerebral cortex and another is
easily visible in a fresh brain.  The number of layers of cells, and the
thickness of the layers, changes from one organ to another.

A microphotograph of the transition between area 17 (visual area 1, at the 
extreme rear of the brain) and area 18 (visual 2, just forward of visual 1)
can be seen on p. 214 of MODELS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM by Sid Deutsch.
This book is out of print, it's from 1967.  Nice book, nevertheless.