Brodmann was a pioneer in the study of cytoarchitectonics, and this work forms the basis for localization of function in the cerebral cortex. Brodmann's "areas" are used to designate cortical function regions.

Brodmann's broad comparative-anatomic approach, his recognition that the cortex is organized anatomically along the same basic principles in all mammals, and his idea of utilizing the morphogenesis of the cortex as a basis for the classification of cortical types and for the nomenclature of layers, were instrumental in dispelling the confusion that existed before Brodmann entered the field. His work first appeared as a series of papers in J. Psychol. Neurol. (Lpz.), 1903-08. His map of the human cortex appeared in the same journal, 1907, 10, 231-46, 287-334.

Broadmann studied the brains of diverse mammalian species, and developed a division of the cerebral cortex into 52 discrete areas, of which 44 are in the human, and the remaining 8 in the non-human primate brain. English translation of the 1909 work: Brodmann's localisation in the cerebral cortex; The principles of comparative localisation in the cerebral cortex based on cytoarchitectonics. Translated with editorial notes and an introduction by Laurence J. Garey. New York: Springer, 2006.