page_title: Constantin von Economo
section_title: Cytoarchitectonic studies
hierarchical_section_title: Constantin von Economo / Scientific work / Cytoarchitectonic studies
caption_attribution_description: English: Image from von Economo article about cytoarchitectonics. Polski: Grafika z pracy von Economo o cytoarchitektonice kory mózgowej.
context_page_description: Constantin Freiherr von Economo was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist of Romanian origin and Greek descent. He is mostly known for his discovery of encephalitis lethargica and his atlas of cytoarchitectonics of the cerebral cortex.
context_section_description: After the first attempts to divide the human cortex into areas according to the cytoarchitecture by Theodor Meynert, Vladimir Betz, Alfred Walter Campbell, Grafton Elliot Smith and Korbinian Brodmann, von Economo started his own project in 1912 and was joined by Georg N. Koskinas in 1919. In 1925, their monumental work  "Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen"  ("Cytoarchitectonics of the Adult Human Cerebral Cortex") was published. This work was presented in two volumes, a textbook of more than 800 pages and an atlas with 112 large-sized microphotographic plates of the cortex. The textbook contains detailed descriptions of their studies and an introduction to the history of cytoarchitectonic research. Two years later, a shorter version,  "Zellaufbau der Großhirnrinde"  ("The Cellular Architecture of the Cerebral Cortex") was published and translated into French, Italian and English. With their atlas, von Economo and Koskinas hoped to create a basis for future brain research and the localisation of brain functions since they assumed that cytoarchitectonic differences reflect functional differences. The atlas was republished in 2008.
  Von Economo and Koskinas divided the cortex into seven lobes (Lobi) with further subdivisions (Regiones and Areae): 
  Lobus frontalis (F): 35 Areae
  Regio praerolandica: 10 Areae
  Regio frontalis: 9 Areae
  Regio orbitomedialis: 16 Areae
  Lobus limbicus superior (L): 13 Areae
  Regio limbica superior anterior: 5 Areae
  Regio limbica superior posterior: 3 Areae
  Subregio retrosplenialis: 5 Areae
  Lobus insulae (I): 6 Areae
  Lobus parietalis (P): 18 Areae
  Regio postcentralis: 6 Areae
  Regio parietalis superior: 4 Areae
  Regio parietalis inferior: 5 Areae
  Regio parietalis basalis: 3 Areae
  Lobus occipitalis (O): 7 Areae
  Lobus temporalis (T): 14 Areae
  Regio supratemporalis: 5 Areae
  Regio temporalis propria: 2 Areae
  Regio fusiformis: 3 Areae
  Regio temporopolaris: 4 Areae
  Lobus limbicus inferior/Lobus hippocampi (H): 14 Areae
caption: Cytoarchitectonic map from Economo's work
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