Human Cognition Explored Using Chandelier Cells

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Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 09 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Thanks to research regarding the neurocortex's organization and function, scientists may have learned more about the nature of human cognition, according to an article released on September 1, 2008 in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine.

The neocortex is the part of the brain that takes responsibility for sensory perceptions, conscious thought, and language. Humans have a neocortex that is considerably larger than that of other mammals, making it an ideal target for research on human cognition, which relates these skills.

Several theories exist regarding human cognition. For instance, some believe that the higher level of cognition present in humans is due to the larger size and greater complexity of the neocortex. In another theory, different types of cells in the neocortex, which other mammals do not have, are responsible for our higher levels of cognition. Chandelier cells, which are shaped like candlesticks, are of particular interest to the authors of this study. While other species have these cells, they tend to be more complex in humans. Therefore, they might be responsible for humans' higher levels of cognition thanks to a more complicated or differently organized system of communication.

By recording impulses from pairs of connected neurons in human brain tissue, these authors were able to examine the microcircuitry of cells in the neocortex. By measuring the dynamic communication between neurons, they could observe the methods of interaction between the cells. Notably, while previously scientists thought that neurons worked in groups, but according to this study a single chandelier cell could trigger multiple cells in the cortex to cause a chain reaction in the brain.

Using this sequence of events, a precisely timed chain of electrical events could be triggered in the neocortex. Also, in humans, the synaptic pathways, which link between chandelier and other cells, are much stronger than recorded in other mammals. This suggests that the cells humans have are indeed different, and this could be the reason for the higher levels of cognition they obtain. The results of this study further push to create more questions about how and why our brains are different from other species'.

About PloS Biology:
All works published in PLoS Biology are open access. Everything is immediately available--to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use--without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Complex events initiated by individual spikes in the human cerebral cortex.
Molnár G, Oláh S, Komlósi G, Füle M, Szabadics J, et al.
PLoS Biol 6(9): e222.
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060222
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Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
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