Statistical Outliers in Neuron Population and Myelinated Fiber Development in Human Neocortex

Abstract

Between 1939 and 1967, JL Conel performed detailed histological examinations of 54 human subjects at eight observations ages ranging from newborns to 6 years old. He made detailed observations of neuron densities, Weigert and Golgi-Cox stained fibers, fiber diameters, and cell sizes by neocortical layer for up to 43 neocortical areas for each age. Here we use this data to construct standard sample columns to calculate changes between observation ages, and show that it is well matched by a gamma distribution. We then show that a developmental distance metric (DDM) transformation facilitates a statistical exploration of inter-area differences during development.