Cortical column

From Freepedia

A cortical column is a group of neurons in the brain cortex which can be successively penetrated by a probe inserted perpendicularly to the cortical surface, and which have nearly identical receptive fields.

This term is related to the way how the brain is inspected, unlike terms such as brainstem, cerebellum, etc.; i.e., it would be incorrect to say "the cortex has cortical columns". (See Cortical minicolumn for a structure which does exist in the cortex.)

The discovery of the NCC (Neocortical Column) was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1981.[1]

External links and references

• Mission to build a simulated brain begins "the initial phase of Blue Brain will model the electrical structure of neocortical columns - neural circuits that are repeated throughout the brain. These are the network units of the brain, says Markram. Measuring just 0.5 millimetres by 2 mm, these units contain between 10 and 70,000 neurons, depending upon the species. Once this is complete, the behaviour of columns can be mapped and modelled"