title: Comment on "Universality in the evolution of orientation columns in the visual cortex".
abstract: Kaschube et al. (Reports, 19 November 2010, p. 1113) argue that pinwheel density in three mammalian species follows a universal constant of π as predicted by their orientation-selective suppressive long-range connectivity model. We dispute their conclusions and suggest that a simple brain size-pinwheel density scaling law suffices in predicting the self-organized and disorganized orientation maps from primates to rodents.
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Yicong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Chi-Sang
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Poon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*