Networks of the Brain (Hardcover)

Over the last decade, the study of complex networks has expanded across diverse scientific fields. Increasingly, science is concerned with the structure, behavior, and evolution of complex systems ranging from cells to ecosystems. Modern network approaches are beginning to reveal fundamental principles of brain architecture and function, and in Networks of the Brain, Olaf Sporns describes how the integrative nature of brain function can be illuminated from a complex network perspective. Highlighting the many emerging points of contact between neuroscience and network science, the book serves to introduce network theory to neuroscientists and neuroscience to those working on theoretical network models.

Brain networks span the microscale of individual cells and synapses and the macroscale of cognitive systems and embodied cognition. Sporns emphasizes how networks connect levels of organization in the brain and how they link structure to function. In order to keep the book accessible and focused on the relevance to neuroscience of network approaches, he offers an informal and nonmathematical treatment of the subject. After describing the basic concepts of network theory and the fundamentals of brain connectivity, Sporns discusses how network approaches can reveal principles of brain architecture. He describes new links between network anatomy and function and investigates how networks shape complex brain dynamics and enable adaptive neural computation. The book documents the rapid pace of discovery and innovation while tracing the historical roots of the field.

The study of brain connectivity has already opened new avenues of study in neuroscience. Networks of the Brain offers a synthesis of the sciences of complex networks and the brain that will be an essential foundation for future research

在過去的十年中，對於複雜網絡的研究已經擴展到各個科學領域。科學界越來越關注從細胞到生態系統的複雜系統的結構、行為和演化。現代網絡方法開始揭示大腦結構和功能的基本原理，Olaf Sporns在《大腦網絡》一書中描述了如何從複雜網絡的角度來闡明大腦功能的整合性。該書突出了神經科學和網絡科學之間許多新興的接觸點，旨在向神經科學家介紹網絡理論，並向從事理論網絡模型研究的人介紹神經科學。

大腦網絡涵蓋了個體細胞和突觸的微觀尺度，以及認知系統和具體認知的宏觀尺度。Sporns強調了網絡如何連接大腦的組織層次，以及如何將結構與功能聯繫起來。為了使書籍易於理解並專注於網絡方法對神經科學的相關性，他以非正式和非數學的方式來處理這個主題。在描述網絡理論的基本概念和大腦連接的基礎之後，Sporns討論了網絡方法如何揭示大腦結構的原則。他描述了網絡解剖學和功能之間的新聯繫，並探討了網絡如何塑造複雜的大腦動態並實現適應性神經計算。該書記錄了這個領域的快速發現和創新，同時追溯了該領域的歷史根源。

大腦連接的研究已經為神經科學開辟了新的研究途徑。《大腦網絡》提供了複雜網絡和大腦科學的綜合，將成為未來研究的基礎。