Anatomy of the Cortex

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-X

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2. Introduction

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 1-6

3. Where is the Cortex?

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 7-13

4. Analysis of the Neuropil: Preliminary Remarks

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 15-23

5. Density of Neurons

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 25-30

6. Density of Synapses

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 31-37

7. Comparison Between Synaptic and Neuronal Density

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 39-40

8. Density of Axons

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 41-45

9. Comparison Between the Densities of Neurons, Synapses and Axons

   • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

   Pages 47-48

10. Microscopic Evidence of the Spacing of Synapses on Axons

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 49-54

11. Statistics of the Synapses Along the Axons

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 55-59

12. Density of Dendrites

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 61-62

13. Different Kinds of Synapses

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 63-67

14. Interim Discussion

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 69-71

15. Morphology of Neurons: Golgi Pictures

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 73-74

16. Classification of Cortical Neurons

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 75-86

17. Quantitative Aspects of the Three Types of Neurons. Methods

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 87-91

18. Length of the Axonal Ramification of Individual Neurons

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 93-97

19. Length of the Dendritic Trees

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 99-100

20. Relative Density of Axons and Dendrites

    • Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

    Pages 101-102

In this essay we propose a view of the cerebral cortex from an unusual angle, determined by our search for the most general statements on the relation between cortical structure and function. Our results may be at variance with the ideas of those physiologists who have specialized subsystems of the cortex in mind, but are not in contrast with them, as we hope to show. Our view is akin to one presented by Moshe Abeles in his monograph Local Cortical Circuits ( 1982). It is related to the theory developed by Gunther Palm, for many years our partner, in Neural Assemblies (1982). It owes much to the ideas which inspire the work of George Gerstein (beginning with the classic: Gerstein 1962) and especially to the insights gained by our colleague Ad Aertsen and his group in TUbingen. Our ideas on the cortex find some resonance in a recent trend in Artificial Intelligence (Kohonen 1977; Hopfield 1982; Rumelhart et al. 1986), and indeed the diagram (Braitenberg 1974a) representing the dominant idea of that trend, the associative matrix with feedback, has served as an emblem for the editorial enterprise Studies of Brain Function since its inception in 1977. Since our earlier reports (Braitenberg 1974a,b, 1977, 1978a,b, 1986; Schilz 1976, 1978, 198la,b, 1986) enough new experimental evidence has accumulated in our own laboratory (summarized by Schilz 1989) and elsewhere to justify a more extended and more confident presen­ tation.

• Gehirnanatomie
• Gehirnfunktion
• Großhirnrinde
• Neuron
• Sehrinde
• anatomy
• artificial intelligence
• brain
• brain function
• cerebral cortex
• cortex
• intelligence
• neural network
• neural networks

• Max-Planck-Institut für Biologische Kybernetik, Tübingen, Germany

  Valentino Braitenberg, Almut Schüz

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