PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cherniak, C
TI  - Component placement optimization in the brain
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.14-04-02418.1994
DP  - 1994 Apr 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 2418--2427
VI  - 14
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/14/4/2418.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/14/4/2418.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1994 Apr 01; 14
AB  - This computational neuroanatomy study evaluates how well some formalisms derived from combinatorial network optimization theory fit as models for brain structure. At multiple hierarchical levels--brain, ganglion, individual cell--physical placement of neural components appears consistent with a single, simple goal: minimize cost of connections among the components. The most dramatic instance of this “save wire” organizing principle is reported for adjacencies among ganglia in the nematode nervous system; among about 40,000,000 alternative layout orderings, the actual ganglion placement in fact requires the least total connection length. In addition, evidence supports a component placement optimization hypothesis for positioning of individual neurons in the nematode, and also for positioning of mammalian cortical areas.