Modelling columnarity of pyramidal cells in the human cerebral cortex

Abstract

For modelling the location of pyramidal cells in the human cerebral cortex we suggest a hierarchical point process in R 3 . The model consists first of a generalised shot noise Cox process in the xy-plane, providing cylindrical clusters, and next of a Markov random field model on the z-axis, providing either repulsion, aggregation, or both within specified areas of interaction. Several cases of these hierarchical point processes are fitted to two pyramidal cell datasets, and of these a model allowing for both repulsion and attraction between the points seem adequate.