ArticlePLoS biology2017
Human-Specific Cortical Synaptic Connections and Their Plasticity: Is That What Makes Us Human?
Article in PLoS biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Arousal threshold modifies the effect of CPAP on executive function among individuals with obstructive sleep apnoea.The European respiratory journal · 2025Trial
- Non-invasive mapping of the temporal processing hierarchy in the human visual cortex.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Conserved Kir channel mechanisms governing intrinsic excitability in human and rodent parvalbumin neurons.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors differentially modulate excitatory transmission across interneuron types in the human cortex.Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience · 2026Article
- Regulation of input excitability in human and mouse parvalbumin interneurons by Kir potassium channels.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Biophysical and computational insights from modeling human cortical pyramidal neurons.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Human stem cell-based models to study synaptic dysfunction and cognition in schizophrenia: A narrative review.Schizophrenia research · 2024Review
- Toward reframing brain-social dynamics: current assumptions and future challenges.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- High-Precision Fast-Spiking Basket Cell Discharges during Complex Events in the Human Neocortex.eNeuroArticle
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
One outstanding difference between Homo sapiens and other mammals is the ability to perform highly complex cognitive tasks and behaviors, such as language, abstract thinking, and cultural diversity. How is this accomplished? According to one prominent theory, cognitive complexity is proportional to the repetition of specific computational modules over a large surface expansion of the cerebral cortex (neocortex). However, the human neocortex was shown to also possess unique features at the cellular and synaptic levels, raising the possibility that expanding the computational module is not the only mechanism underlying complex thinking. In a study published in PLOS Biology, Szegedi and colleagues analyzed a specific cortical circuit from live postoperative human tissue, showing that human-specific, very powerful excitatory connections between principal pyramidal neurons and inhibitory neurons are highly plastic. This suggests that exclusive plasticity of specific microcircuits might be considered among the mechanisms endowing the human neocortex with the ability to perform highly complex cognitive tasks.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.