Haueis, Philipp
(2020)
The Death of the Cortical Column? Patchwork structure and conceptual retirement in neuroscientific practice.
[Preprint]
Abstract
In 1981, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel received the Nobel Prize for their research on cor-tical columns—vertical bands of neurons with similar functional properties. This success led to the view that “cortical column” refers to the basic building block of the mammalian neocor-tex. Since the 1990s, however, critics questioned this building block picture of “cortical col-umn” and debated whether this concept is useless and should be replaced with successor con-cepts. This paper inquires which experimental results after 1981 challenged the building block picture and whether these challenges warrant the elimination “cortical column” from neuroscientific discourse. I argue that the proliferation of experimental techniques led to a patch-work of locally adapted uses of the column concept. Each use refers to a different kind of cortical structure, rather than a neocortical building block. Once we acknowledge this diverse-kinds picture of “cortical column”, the elimination of column concept becomes unnecessary. Rather, I suggest that “cortical column” has reached conceptual retirement: although it cannot be used to identify a neocortical building block, column research is still useful as a guide and cautionary tale for ongoing research. At the same time, neuroscientists should search for alternative concepts when studying the functional architecture of the neocortex.
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