Structure of the Central Visual System and Pathways

Abstract

Pavlov advanced the idea that the general nature of the activity in all parts of the cortex was similar, although he, of course, accepted the existence of special cortical analyzers. He considered that for each sensory modality there is a corresponding region of the cortex which represents its precise projection. Morphologically he defined the cortical analyzer as the largest concentration of cells, with the most compact arrangement. This structural concept “explained the existence of special analyzers, where the exceptionally dense concentration of elements makes the synthetic and analytical activity of the analyzer possible.”*