Dictionary of Biological Psychology
(from Greek, topos, a place, and logos, discourse) Topology is the study of the relationships between places.
(More specifically, in mathematics, topology is the systematic study of connected or adjacent points of a plane or space which remain present regardless of separating: this is most easily grasped by thinking of the study of stretching or knotting objects, rather than cutting them.) In biological psychology, the term TOPOLOGY is used more in an anatomical sense, indicating that two or more structures connect in precise topological ways: that is, neurons at points A and B in one structure project their axons to equivalent points A′ and B′ in another structure. In complex systems, the neurons at A′ and B′ may further project to equivalent points A″ and B″ in a third structure: such a system would be said to be topologically organized. Topology is also used, in abbreviated form, in terms such as RETINOTOPIC, RECEPTOTOPIC REPRESENTATION, TONOTOPIC REPRESENTATION and SOMATOTOPIC.
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