Creation Moment 8/22/2024 - The Brain Functions on a Bell Curve

I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:

Psalm 139:14

"Researchers taking part in the Human Brain Project have identified a mathematical rule that governs the distribution of neurons in our brains.

The rule predicts how neurons are distributed in different parts of the brain....In the wonderful world of statistics, if you consider any continuous random variable, the logarithm of that variable will often follow what's known as a lognormal distribution.

 Defined by the mean and standard deviation, it can be visualized as a bell-shaped curve, only with the curve being wider than what you'd find in a normal distribution.

A team of researchers from the Jülich Research Center and the

University of Cologne in Germany found the number of neurons in areas of the outer layer of neural tissue in different mammals fits a lognormal distribution.

Mathematics aside, a simple and important distinction is 

---the symmetry of the normal distribution bell curve 

---and the asymmetry and heavy right-skewed tail of the lognormal distribution, due to a large number of small values and a few significantly large values.

Brain structure and function depend on neuron numbers and arrangement. The density of neurons in different regions and layers of that outer tissue layer – the cerebral cortex – varies considerably.
"For instance, if the density of synapses is constant, regions with lower neuron density will receive more synapses per neuron." 

A lognormal distribution is a natural result of processes that multiply, just like normal distribution is a natural result of adding up many independent variables....suggests brain neural network variation is more than just a byproduct and may actively help animals learn in changing environments. And the fact that the same organization can be seen in different species and in most parts of the cortex suggests that the lognormal distribution is used for something." 

ScienceAlert