Surface based analysis of diffusion orientation for identifying architectonic domains in the in vivo human cortex

► Measurement of diffusion anisotropy in the in vivo human cerebral cortex. ► Dominant diffusion orientation compared to the local cortical orientation. ► Analysis of cortical depth-dependent diffusion features and partial volume effects. ► Diffusion in the cortex is predominantly orthogonal to the cortical surface. ► Evidence of tangential diffusion in S1 and to a lesser extent S2 and A1.