Developing Brain Networks Graph (IMAGE) Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience Caption One of the outstanding mysteries of the cerebral cortex is how individual neurons develop the proper synaptic connections to form large-scale, distributed networks. Now, an international team of scientists have gained novel insights from studying spontaneously generated patterns of activity arising from local connections in the early developing visual cortex. These early activity patterns serve as a template for the subsequent development of the long-range neural connections that are a defining feature of mature distributed networks. Credit Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.