Protomap

Protomap (from prototype and map [http://www.dana.org/news/brainhealth/detail.aspx?id=10050] ) is a hypothetical map in the ventricular zone of the brain. [cite book |author=Whishaw, Ian Q.; Brian Kolb |title=Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology |publisher=Worth Publishers |location=New York |year=2008 |pages= |isbn=0-7167-9586-8 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=] This map can be seen as series of columns on the surface of the cerebral ventricles that after migrating to the cortex end up in the same orderly arrangement as the units in which they originated. [cite book |author=Ackerman, Sandra |title=Discovering the brain |publisher=National Academy Press |location=Washington, D.C |year=1992 |pages= |isbn=0-309-04529-0 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=]
The term protomap was coined by Pasko Rakic. [cite journal |author=Rakic P |title=Specification of cerebral cortical areas |journal=Science (journal) |volume=241 |issue=4862 |pages=170–6 |year=1988 |month=Jul |pmid=3291116 |doi= |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=3291116] The "protomap hypothesis" is opposed by the "protocortex hypothesis", which proposes that cortical neurons initially have the same potential, [cite book |author= |title=Cognitive Neuroscience of Development (Studies in Developmental Psychology) |publisher=Psychology Press |location=East Sussex |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=1-84169-214-X |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=] and that regionalization in large part is controlled by external influences, such as inputs from the thalamus to the cortex. [cite journal |author=Sun T, Walsh CA |title=Molecular approaches to brain asymmetry and handedness |journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience
volume=7 |issue= |pages=655–62 |month=Aug |year=2006 |doi=10.1038/nrn1930 |quote= [http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v7/n8/glossary/nrn1930.html Glossary] ]

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