A cylinder of cells extending the depth of the cerebral cortex, and which is the fundamental repeating unit of the cortex. Each column does a stereotyped intake, transformation and distribution of a particular class of information. Cortical columns were first discovered electrophysiologically by Vernon B. Mountcastle in 1957: neurons horizontally no more than 0.5 mm from each other do not have overlapping sensory receptive fields, a finding subsequently replicated many times. Such columnar organization is particularly evident in the visual system. In addition to ocular dominance and orientation columns, there also a number of other types in the visual cortex (e.g., position columns).
See Cerebral cortex (or pallium), Cortical area, Motor cortex, Ocular dominance columns, Two visual systems hypothesis, Visual cortex