皮層柱

皮層柱（英文：Cortical column，亦稱hypercolumn，macrocolumn^[1]，cortical module^[2]），是大腦皮層中可以被垂直表面的探針成功穿入的一群神經元，他們擁有幾乎相同的感受野。微皮層柱（英語：cortical minicolumn）（cortical minicolumn）中的神經元只能記錄相同特徵的信號，而皮層柱則是一個可以記錄其相應感受野中全體有效信號的單元。^[3]

這個術語的確切所指目前並不清楚，它並不直接對應於皮層中的任何獨立結構。不可能找出對應於一個皮層柱的一組神經結構，目前也沒有已知的基因訊息能夠指出一個皮層柱是如何構建的。^[3]儘管如此，這個柱狀組織的假設在目前對於皮層訊息處理的研究中被廣為接受。^[4]

參考文獻

1. Buxhoeveden, D. P. The minicolumn hypothesis in neuroscience. Brain. 2002, 125 (5): 935. doi:10.1093/brain/awf110.
2. Kolb, Bryan; Whishaw, Ian Q. Fundamentals of human neuropsychology. New York: Worth. 2003. ISBN 0-7167-5300-6.
3. Horton JC, Adams DL. The cortical column: a structure without a function. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci. 2005, 360 (1456): 837–862. PMC 1569491 . PMID 15937015. doi:10.1098/rstb.2005.1623.
4. Defelipe, Javier. The neocortical column. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 2012, 6. doi:10.3389/fnana.2012.00022.

外部連結

• Graham-Rowe, Duncan. Mission to build a simulated brain begins. New Scientist. 6 June 2005 [2014-10-17]. （原始內容存檔於2008-10-20）. [...] 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 [...]
• The Blue Brain Project （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） aims to simulate a cortical column
• On Intelligence—a popular science book about column function by Jeff Hawkins
• Rakic, P. Confusing cortical columns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. August 2008, 105 (34): 12099–12100. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10512099R. doi:10.1073/pnas.0807271105. Summarizes what is known and corrects some misconceptions.