Lesson text is an educational draft awaiting anatomical review.
Lessons
A curriculum of relationships for neurosurgical residents. Each lesson moves from a reference view to a question you can explain.
01Reading the evidence · 4 relationships, about 8 minutes
What the anatomy image can establish
Use one region to distinguish a surface landmark, an atlas boundary, a reconstruction and a measured functional observation.
02Reading the evidence · 4 relationships, about 8 minutes
Reading a sparse or incomplete tractogram
Distinguish visibility, reconstruction and quantitative support through practical display comparisons.
03Regional anatomy · 10 relationships, about 20 minutes
Central region & descending motor pathways
Orient the central region, follow the descending corridor and distinguish cortical, capsular and cerebellar contributions to movement.
04Regional anatomy · 7 relationships, about 16 minutes
Internal capsule and thalamic radiations
Read the internal capsule through its grey-matter neighbours, compare its limbs and genu, and keep reconstructed pathways separate from individual localisation.
05Regional anatomy · 5 relationships, about 12 minutes
Frontal aslant tract & speech planning
Compare lateral and medial frontal anatomy, then use task-specific observations to reason about speech impairment.
06Regional anatomy · 7 relationships, about 16 minutes
Corpus callosum & the interhemispheric corridor
Read the corpus callosum as a relationship set, then use its segmental topography to frame medial frontal, deep white matter and visual transfer questions.
07Regional anatomy · 5 relationships, about 12 minutes
Optic radiation & the temporal stem
Follow the geniculocalcarine relationship, compare temporal-stem neighbours and reason about a contralateral visual-field deficit.
08Regional anatomy · 6 relationships, about 14 minutes
Ventral stream & the temporal stem
Orient the uncinate fasciculus, compare neighbouring ventral pathways and read the temporal stem as a corridor linking anterior temporal, insular and mesial temporal anatomy.
09Regional anatomy · 7 relationships, about 16 minutes
The limen crossroads
Read the limen and temporal stem as a changing three-dimensional stack of association, commissural and visual pathways, while keeping unrendered tissue layers explicit.
10Regional anatomy · 5 relationships, about 12 minutes
Insula, central core & interoception
Orient the buried insular surface and its deep neighbours before considering a proposed interoceptive framework.
11Regional anatomy · 6 relationships, about 14 minutes
The insular floor
Orient the buried insular surface, compare its ventral and upper relationships, and distinguish sampled pathways from the absent layers and vessels beneath it.
12Regional anatomy · 6 relationships, about 16 minutes
The medial system: fornix, cingulum and the Papez loop
Compare the fornix and cingulum as distinct medial pathways, then use their place in the Papez model to qualify what a population atlas can establish.
13Regional anatomy · 7 relationships, about 16 minutes
Motor beyond M1: SMA, initiation and the CST body map
Relate medial frontal organisation to initiation, then audit what the available evidence can say about a CST body map at each named level.
14Regional anatomy · 7 relationships, about 16 minutes
Brainstem & cranial nerve corridors
Read the brainstem through long tracts, cerebellar peduncles and cranial nerve exits while keeping surface relationships separate from operative instructions.
15Network lectures · 6 relationships, about 18 minutes
Attention networks · orienting, reorienting & neglect
Follow dorsal and ventral frontoparietal systems, compare their white matter, and build a network account of a spatial deficit.
16Network lectures · 7 relationships, about 22 minutes
Language networks · dorsal, ventral & frontal pathways
Move beyond two cortical centres: compare speech-sound mapping, meaning, visual input and phrase planning across cortical and white-matter relationships.
17Network lectures · 6 relationships, about 18 minutes
Default mode network · hubs, subsystems & connections
Orient medial and lateral default-network territories, compare cingulum and medial-temporal relationships, and interpret internal cognition without a “resting brain” shortcut.
18Network lectures · 6 relationships, about 18 minutes
Salience network · insula, cingulate & switching
Connect frontoinsular and cingulate anatomy to salience and control, while separating overlapping network definitions and their clinical questions.
19Network lectures · 7 relationships, about 15 minutes
The control network: SLF II and the frontoparietal system
Relate frontoparietal control evidence to lateral prefrontal and parietal atlas references. Compare the SLF II population sample with neighbouring SLF families while keeping network, parcel and task evidence separate.
20Regional anatomy · 8 relationships, about 15 minutes
The reading route: VOF, MdLF and SLF III
Follow visual word-form evidence into occipital and posterior temporal pathway relationships, then compare the SLF branches and arcuate while keeping anatomy separate from function.