The determination of neuronal fate in the developing cerebral cortex has been studied by tracking normal cell lineages in the cortex, and by testing the commitment of young cortical neurons to their normal fates. These studies together suggest that neuronal progenitors are multipotent during development and have the potential to produce neurons destined for many or all of the cortical layers. However, the laminar identity of an individual neuron appears to be specified through environmental interactions at the time of the cell's terminal mitotic division, prior to its migration into the cortical plate.