Interactive figure: four identified cell types on Cajal’s drawing of the cerebellum

Each type of neuron has a speech pattern that can be learned

Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s drawing of the cerebellum, now with four cell types highlighted in color. Hover or tap to isolate the spikes from a cell of each type. Turn on sound to hear the difference.

All traces are simulated, not recorded; they match published in vivo firing rates. A tall mark on the Purkinje trace is a complex spike, triggered by climbing-fiber input. With sound on, each spike plays as a click, the way they would sound through a lab’s audio monitor. Drawing: Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Golgi stain of the cerebellar cortex (public domain).

Text description: In the drawing, the Purkinje cell (a) is a single large neuron with a fan of dendrites at the top; basket cells (b) sit to its right; the Golgi cell (f) is a star-shaped cell lower right; granule cells (g) are small cells at left. Simulated resting firing over two seconds: Purkinje cell, about 50 simple spikes per second plus about one complex spike per second. Basket cells, 10 to 30 spikes per second, irregular and clustered. Golgi cell, 5 to 10 spikes per second, slow and steady. Granule cells, under 1 spike per second, nearly silent. Everything else in the drawing is left untinted.