Classification of Cortical Neurons

Abstract

There is no justification beyond recourse to esthetic motives for the preference of one classification over another and all classifications are likely to stumble over exceptional cases. In our earlier papers (Braiten-berg 1977, 1978a,b), far from being discouraged by the ever multi­plying zoo of cortical neurons described in the literature, we proposed a distinction between two classes, pyramidal and stellate cells¹, with a third class, Martinotti cells perhaps occupying an intermediate position, but well enough characterized to be kept separate. The classes were defined as follows.