Organisation und funktionelle Integration im PPC von Neuweltaffen

• Applicant: Dr. Yvonne Rothemund
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Term: from 2003 to 2006
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5407527

Investigation of functional integration, a remarkable feature of brain complexity, will challenge neuroscientists in the next years. It is the aim of the proposed project to study the organization and functional integration in posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of New World monkeys (NWm). Recent investigations have not adressed this issue. While a number of multimodal cortical areas have been defined and frequently re-defined in PPC of Old World monkeys (OWm) with a high uncertainty about area borders and cortical connections, it is not known whether these areas exist in NWm. The study of cortical connections allows for determination of cortical circuitry and thus for understanding of cross-modal functional integration. A combination of methods, e.g. injection of different tracers to determine connections of the region and studies of cortical architectonics shall be applied. Results obtained in NWm permit the development of appropriate hypotheses of functional integration of this region applicable in OWm as well as in humans.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Jon H. Kaas