An Integrative View of Cortical Circuitry

Abstract

The data provided in Parts I and II are fully consistent with the notion that the cerebral cortex is organized along similar lines in different species. Lamination and vertical connections between laminae are hallmarks of all cortical systems, the morphological and physiological characteristics of cortical neurons are equivalent in different species, as are the kinds of synaptic interactions involving cortical neurons. This similarity in the organization of the cerebral cortex extends even to the specific details of cortical circuitry. For example, in all cortical areas and in all species the cell bodies of spiny neurons receive input only from nonspiny neurons, whereas the cell bodies of nonspiny neurons receive, in addition, inputs from a variety of other sources (see Peters, 1987).