ITERATED PATTERNS OF BRAIN CIRCUITRY (OR HOW THE CORTEX GETS ITS SPOTS)

The prominence of repeating patterns of circuitry in the mammalian brain has led to the general view that iterated modular units reflect a fundamental principle of cortical function. Here we argue that these intriguing patterns arise not because the functional organization of the brain demands them, but as an incidental consequence of the rules of synapse formation.