title: Beyond scale-free small-world networks: cortical columns for quick brains.
abstract: We study to what extent cortical columns with their particular wiring boost neural computation. Upon a vast survey of columnar networks performing various real-world cognitive tasks, we detect no signs of enhancement. It is on a mesoscopic--intercolumnar--scale that the existence of columns, largely irrespective of their inner organization, enhances the speed of information transfer and minimizes the total wiring length required to bind distributed columnar computations towards spatiotemporally coherent results. We suggest that brain efficiency may be related to a doubly fractal connectivity law, resulting in networks with efficiency properties beyond those by scale-free networks.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stoop
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saase
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stoop
authors.forename: Ruedi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stoop
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005289:Ferrets; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology