#  Dissertation Defense: "Spatial Patterns of Cortical Connectivity Across Mammals" 

 



    ![Aidan Murphy dissertation poster](/sites/g/files/omnuum1771/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-11/Aidan%20Murphy%20dissertation%20poster.png?h=3f464211&itok=lAqupZgW) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **November 20, 2026** 

 01:00PM - 02:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Haller Hall**  

 [24 Oxford Street  
Cambridge, MA 02138  
United States



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 [ Zoom arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/j/91430918680?pwd=UbN6IcIHkmhvxadbsxgWT8I5u91xCm.1) 

 



 

HEB grad student Aidan Murphy will defend his dissertation titled "Spatial Patterns of Cortical Connectivity Across Mammals".

**Abstract:**

Brain connectivity differs substantially across species, but it is unclear whether these differences are largely species specific or vary according to recurring features of cortical organization. This dissertation tests whether common spatial dimensions structure corticocortical connectivity across mammalian brains. Using diffusion MRI tractography, we examine two hypotheses that predict how connectivity varies across the cortical sheet: one based on rostrocaudal position and another based on distance from primary sensory cortex. Chapter 1 evaluates these relationships across primates. Despite substantial variation across species, several aspects of connectivity show common spatial organization, and the distribution of connectivity across near and far targets changes systematically with brain size. Chapter 2 extends this framework to non-primate mammals. These comparisons suggest that these patterns do not constitute mammalian-wide scaling rules. Within a large domesticated dog cohort, cortical size also covaries with connectivity organization, but in ways that differ partly from the cross-primate pattern. Together, these results identify recurring spatial dimensions of cortical connectivity across diverse mammalian brains, while showing that these dimensions do not prescribe a universal connectivity architecture or a single solution to increasing brain size.





 

 



 

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