![]() This explosion is propelled by brain-related big and well-funded initiatives and projects, including The BRAIN Initiative ( Brain Research through Advancing Innovate Neurotechnologies) (BRAIN Working Group 2014) to develop technology to catalyze neuroscience discovery (Jorgenson et al. 2014 Frackowiak and Markram 2015 Nowinski 2017a Hess et al. We witness in recent years a tremendous explosion of human brain atlas projects with various goals, scopes, and sizes, as addressed, for instance, in (Amunts et al. We suggest that the future human brain atlas-related research and development activities shall be founded on and benefit from a standard framework containing the core virtual brain model cum the brain atlas platform general architecture. Atlas functionality also has been relatively neglected until recently, as the management of brain data explosion requires powerful tools. The major application-wise shift has been from research to clinical practice, particularly in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, although clinical applications are still lagging behind the atlas content progress. Availability is discussed in media and platforms, ranging from mobile solutions to leading-edge supercomputers, with three accessibility levels. Functionality-wise, tools and functionalities are addressed for atlas creation, navigation, individualization, enabling operations, and application-specific. Application-wise, we overview atlases in neuroeducation, research, and clinics, including stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neurology, and stroke. Atlas content developments in these groups are heading in 23 various directions. Content-wise, new electronic atlases are categorized into eight groups considering their scope, parcellation, modality, plurality, scale, ethnicity, abnormality, and a mixture of them. Four atlas generations are distinguished: early cortical maps, print stereotactic atlases, early digital atlases, and advanced brain atlas platforms, and 5 avenues in electronic atlases spanning the last two generations. We overview here this evolution in four categories: content, applications, functionality, and availability, in contrast to other works limited mostly to content. Read the original article in The Atlantic.Human brain atlases have been evolving tremendously, propelled recently by brain big projects, and driven by sophisticated imaging techniques, advanced brain mapping methods, vast data, analytical strategies, and powerful computing. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, "memex" will do. One cannot hope thus to equal the speed and flexibility with which the mind follows an associative trail, but it should be possible to beat the mind decisively in regard to the permanence and clarity of the items resurrected from storage.Ĭonsider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. Selection by association, rather than indexing, may yet be mechanized. The first idea, however, to be drawn from the analogy concerns selection. In minor ways he may even improve, for his records have relative permanency. Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature. It has other characteristics, of course trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. ![]() With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. ![]() Having found one item, moreover, one has to emerge from the system and re-enter on a new path. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing. ![]() The real heart of the matter of selection, however, goes deeper than a lag in the adoption of mechanisms by libraries, or a lack of development of devices for their use. ![]()
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