[meetsa]

Hi,

I understand that the connectivity within cortical columns is a highly studied area. I was wondering if there is any dat or understanding of how many "external" inputs a typical cortical column or a microcircuit receives. Is it small compared to intracortical connectivity or to the number of neurons in a typical column? In other words are the external inputs "sparse" ? I would greatly appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this..

thanks

[Lawrence Phillia]

Yes, according to the liturature sensory input appears to be sparse but this belies the fact that pre-processing and integration occurs at the recepter sites themselves.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/facts.html