The human and mammalian cerebrum scale by computational power and information resistance

Abstract

The cerebrum of mammals spans a vast range of sizes and yet has a very regular structure. The amount of folding of the cortical surface and the proportion of white matter gradually increase with size, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, two laws are derived to fully explain these cerebral scaling relations. The first law holds that the long-range information flow in the cerebrum is determined by the total cortical surface (i.e., the number of neurons) and the increasing information resistance of long-range connections. Despite having just one free parameter, the first law fits the mammalian cerebrum better than any existing function, both across species and within humans. According to the second law, the white matter volume scales, with a few minor corrections, to the cortical surface area. It follows from the first law that large cerebrums have much local processing and little global information flow. Moreover, paradoxically, a further increase in long-range connections would decrease the efficiency of information flow.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures; 3 supplement