Structural and Functional Organization of the Neocortex

On April 1, 1992, Otto Creutzfeldt would have celebrated his 65th birthday. About a year before, those of us who worked with him in the Department of Neurobiology decided to organize a meeting to honour Otto and his contri­ butions to neuroscience. Since Otto Creutzfeldt had no intention of retiring before his 67th birthday, this was not to be a "retirement conference" but a celebration on the occasion of a major anniversary. However. events turned out differently. In the spring of 1991, Otto Creutzfeldt became seriously ill, before we could consult with him on his suggestions for such a meeting, and we decided to postpone further dis­ cussion until his health improved. In the summer, when we talked to him about the meeting, he basically approved of the idea but immediately sug­ gested our turning it into a proper scientific congress, rather than limiting ourselves to inviting his friends and former co-workers. He had very good friends in many parts of the world and would certainly have liked to see many of them again. However, his interest in science remained the domi­ nant factor. He proposed the main topics for the conference and suggested several speakers to be invited. Although he knew that his health was crit­ ical and that his condition could rapidly worsen, we had the feeling that the planning gave him hope and perhaps an opportunity to look forward.

1 Development.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Role of Pax Genes in Mammalian Development.- 1.3 Regulated and Nonregulated Parameters of Neocortical Cytogenesis.- 1.4 Cell Fate Determination and Cell Migration in the Developing Forebrain.- 1.5 Transient Neuronal Systems and Expression of Marker Molecules in the Developing Cerebral Cortex.- 2 Plasticity.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Computational Structure of Central Nervous System Axons Reflects Developmental Strategies.- 2.3 Neurochemical Properties of Cytochrome Oxidase-Rich Puffs and Interpuffs in Primate Visual Cortex: Regulation by Visual Input.- 2.4 Studies on Regulation of Ocular Dominance Plasticity: Strategies and Findings.- 2.5 Homosynaptic Long-Term Depression and Its Relationship to Long-Term Potentation in the Rat Neocortex In Vitro.- 3 On the Input to the Visual Cortex.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Color Coding in the Primate Retina: Predictions and Constraints from Anatomy.- 3.3 Ganglion Cells and Cortical Function.- 4 Microcircuitry I.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Dendritic Geometry of Pyramidal Neurons in the Visual Cortex of the Rat.- 4.3 The Canonical Microcircuit: A Co-operative Neuronal Network for Neocortex.- 4.4 Cellular Mechanisms of Thalamocortical Oscillations.- 4.5 The Order in Synaptic Circuits of the Cerebral Cortex: Lessons from the Hippocampus.- 4.6 Constraints to a Random Plan of Cortical Connectivity.- 5 Microcircuitry II.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Layer I and the Excitable Apical Dendrite: Substrates for Intracortical Communication.- 5.3 Spatiotemporal Activity Patterns in the Neocortical Slice: Fast Optical Recordings with Voltage-Sensitive Dyes.- 5.4 The Linearity of Synaptic Mechanisms in Simple Cells of Area 17 of Cat Visual Cortex.- 5.5 Widespread Horizontal Interactions in Kitten Visual Cortex and Their Shrinkage with Development.- 5.6 Large Basket Cells and Lateral Inhibition in Cat Visual Cortex.- 6 Plasticity ―Memory ―Attention.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Circuitry and Functional Dynamics of Adult Visual Cortex.- 6.3 Plasticity of Sensory Maps in Adult Mammals.- 6.4 Mapping of Stimulus Features and Meaning in Gerbil Auditory Cortex.- 6.5 Cortical Mechanisms for Voluntary and Involuntary Attention: Posterior Cingulate and Lateral Intraparietal Areas in the Monkey.- 6.6 Neural Mechanisms for Memory-Guided Visual Search.- 7 Functional Aspects I.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Functional Architecture and Connection Rules in Primary Visual Cortex of Macaque Monkey.- 7.3 The Organization, Connectivity and Interactions of Color Processing in the Visual Cortex.- 7.4 Anatomical, Physiological, and Computational Aspects of Hierarchical Processing in the Macaque Visual Cortex.- 7.5 On the Putative Role in Synchrony in Cortical Processing.- 7.6 Sensory-Motor Integration and the Posterior Parietal Cortex.- 7.7 Comparative Physiological and Anatomical Studies of the Primate Vestibular Cortex.- 8 Functional Aspects II.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Cortical Properties of Preattentive Vision.- 8.3 Structural and Functional Organization of Connections between Neocortex and Midbrain.- 8.4 The Visual Guidance of Saccades.- 8.5 Callosal Pathways for Simple Visuomotor Control in Man.- 8.6 Distributed Processing of Movement Dynamics and Kinematics in the Three Motor Cortical Areas of the Rhesus Monkey.- 9 Human Cerebral Cortex.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Cerebral Subsystems Within Language.- 9.3 Human Left Temporal Neural Mechamisms for Recent Verbal Memory.- 9.4 Verbal and Visual Thinking in the EEG.- 9.5 Magnetoencephalography: A New Window into the Functional Organization of the Cerebral Cortex.- 9.6 Electroencephalography in Psychiatry: From Hans Berger to the “Decade of the Brain”.- 9.7 The Frontal Lobe and the Essentials of Homo Sapiens.