The Cerebral Cortex --- My, What a Wrinkled Brain You Have!

Question 1

So having a larger brain doesn’t necessarily make a person smarter?

Answer 1

That’s right. Although a small positive correlation exists between intelligence and brain size, overall size alone does not determine human intelligence.

Question 2

Cerebral cortex

Answer 2

The layer of gray matter that covers the outside of the cerebral hemispheres in the brain and is associated with higher cognitive functions, such as language, learning, perception, and planning. It consists mostly of neocortex, which has six main layers of cells.

Question 3

Grey matter

Answer 3

Any area of neural tissue that is dominated by cell bodies and is devoid of myelin, such as the cerebral cortex and the H-shaped periaqueductal gray of the spinal cord.

Question 4

What is the thickness of cerebral cortex?

Answer 4

3 milimeters thick

Question 5

Corticalization

Answer 5

The process of transferring cognitive functions from the primitive areas of the brain to the cerebral cortex which is responsible for higher learning.

Question 6

Cerebral hemisphere

Answer 6

Either half (left or right) of the cerebrum.

Question 7

Corpus callosum

Answer 7

A large tract of nerve fibers running across the longitudinal fissure of the brain and connecting the cerebral hemispheres: It is the principal connection between the two sides of the brain.

Question 8

Unilateral neglect

Answer 8

A disorder resulting from damage to the parietal lobe of the brain and characterized by a loss of conscious perception of objects or stimuli on the side of the body (usually the left half) that is opposite the location of the lesion.

Question 9

How is it possible to test only one side of the brain?

Answer 9

One way is to work with people who’ve had a “split-brain” operation (commissurotomy).

Question 10

Commissurotomy

Answer 10

A surgical procedure involving a partial cutting of a commissure or fiber bridge, especially the great fiber bridge between the two cerebral hemispheres, the corpus callosum.

Question 11

What are the skills of the left part of the brain?

Answer 11

• language
• speech
• writing
• calculation
• time sense
• rhythm
• ordering of complex movements

Question 12

What are the skills of the right part of the brain?

Answer 12

• nonverbal
• perceptual skills
• visualization
• recognition of patterns, faces, melodies
• recognition and expression of emotion
• spatial skills
• simple language comprehension

Question 13

Analysis

Answer 13

The division of any entity into its component parts, typically for the purpose of investigation or study

Question 14

How does the left hemisphere process information?

Answer 14

The left hemisphere is involved mainly with analysis (breaking information into parts). It also processes information sequentially (in order, one item after the next).

Question 15

How does the right hemisphere process information?

Answer 15

The right hemisphere appears to process information holistically (all at once) and simultaneously.

Question 16

Lobes of the cerebral cortex

Answer 16

Areas on the left and right cortex bordered by major fissures or defined by their functions.

Question 17

Frontal lobe

Answer 17

One of the four main lobes of each cerebral hemisphere of the brain, lying in front of the central sulcus. It is concerned with motor and higher order executive functions.

Question 18

Primary motor cortex

Answer 18

A brain area associated with control of movement.

Question 19

Mirror neuron

Answer 19

A type of cell in the brains of certain animals (including humans) that responds in the same way to a given action (e.g., grasping an object) whether the animal performs the action itself or sees another animal (not necessarily of the same species) perform the action.

Question 20

Prefrontal cortex (frontal association area)

Answer 20

the most anterior (forward) part of the cerebral cortex of each frontal lobe in the brain. Divided into a dorsolateral region and an orbitofrontal region, the prefrontal cortex functions in attention, planning, working memory, and the expression of emotions and appropriate social behaviors; its development in humans parallels improvement in cognitive control and behavioral inhibition as an individual grows into adulthood. By contrast, damage to the prefrontal cortex leads to emotional, motor, and cognitive impairments.

Question 21

Association cortex

Answer 21

Any of various areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved principally in sensory or motor representations but may be involved in integrative functions.

Question 22

Aphasia

Answer 22

An acquired language impairment that results from brain damage typically in the left hemisphere. Common causes of damage include stroke, brain tumors, and cortical degenerative disorders

Question 23

Broca’s area

Answer 23

A region of the posterior portion of the inferior frontal convolution of a cerebral hemisphere that is associated with the production of speech. It is located on the left hemisphere of right-handed and of most lefthanded individuals.

Question 24

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 24

One of eight classically identified aphasias, characterized by nonfluent conversational speech and slow, halting speech production. Auditory comprehension is relatively good for everyday conversation, but there is considerable difficulty with complex syntax or multistep commands. The ability to write is impaired as well. It is associated with injury to the frontal lobe of the brain.

Question 25

Parietal lobe

Answer 25

One of the four main subdivisions of each cerebral hemisphere. It occupies the upper central area of each hemisphere, behind the frontal lobe, ahead of the occipital lobe, and above the temporal lobe. Parts of the parietal lobe participate in somatosensory activities, such as the discrimination of size, shape, and texture of objects; visual activities, such as visually guided actions; and auditory activities, such as speech perception.

Question 26

Primary somatosensory area

Answer 26

An area of the cerebral cortex, located in a ridge of the anterior parietal lobe just posterior to the central sulcus, where the first stage of cortical processing of tactile information takes place (see somatosensory area). It receives input from the ventroposterior nuclear complex of the thalamus (see ventroposterior nucleus) and projects to other areas of the parietal cortex.

Question 27

Temporal lobe

Answer 27

One of the four main subdivisions of each cerebral hemisphere in the brain, lying immediately below the lateral sulcus on the outer surface of each hemisphere. It contains the auditory projection and auditory association areas and also areas for higher order visual processing. The medial temporal lobe contains regions important for memory formation.

Question 28

Primary auditory area

Answer 28

Part of the temporal lobe in which auditory information is first registered.

Question 29

Wernicke’s area

Answer 29

A region toward the back of the superior temporal gyrus of the left hemisphere of the cerebrum containing nerve tissue associated with the interpretation of sounds.

Question 30

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 30

Loss of the ability to comprehend sounds or speech, in particular to understand or repeat spoken language and to name objects or qualities

Question 31

Occipital lobe

Answer 31

The most posterior (rearward) subdivision of each cerebral hemisphere, roughly shaped like a pyramid and lying under the skull’s occipital bone. It contains several visual areas that receive and process visual stimuli, and it is involved in basic visual functions (e.g., visual acuity; contrast sensitivity; perception of color, form, and motion) as well as higher level ones (e.g., figure–ground segregation based on textural cues).

Question 32

Primary visual area

Answer 32

The part of the occipital lobe that first receives input from the eyes.

Question 33

Visual agnosia

Answer 33

Loss or impairment of the ability to recognize and understand the nature of visual stimuli.

Question 34

Facial agnosia

Answer 34

An inability to perceive familiar faces.