FUNCTIONAL GROUPING OF THE CORTICO-PRETECTAL PROJECTION

The ascendency of the cerebral cortex in mammals naturally raises ques tions about the role of the archetypal subcortical centers we share in common with other phyla. Here we report a situation in which an ancie nt oculomotor control center, the nucleus of the optic tract, is not s o much dominated by the cerebral cortex as served by it. We suggest th at the organization of cortical output to subcortical centers may be h elpful in understanding the function of the cerebral cortex.