The Cerebral Cortex (Part of the Brain) Flashcards
The Cerebral Cortex
Performs three functions:
Allows flexible construction of sequences of voluntary movements involved in activities.
Permits subtle discriminations among complex sensory patterns.
Makes symbolic thinking possible.
The Primary Cortex
Primary Areas of the cortex process raw sensory information or initiate movement.
Neurons in this area receive sensory information via the thalamus.
Neurons in primary areas have more specific functions, wired to register very basic, very specific attributes of a stimulus.
The Association Cortex
Association Aras are involved in complex mental processes such as forming perceptions, ideas and plans.
They give meaning to the raw input fed to the primary cortex.
Some neurons in the association cortex are equally specific in their functions as in the primary cortex, but many develop their functions through experience
Cerebral Hemispheres
The two roughly symmetrical halves of the cerebrum, split at the longitudinal fissure.
Each consists of four regions, or lobes. These cortical regions tend to be interrelated, not discretely different.
Corpus Callosum
A band of neural fibers that connects the two hemispheres.
The Occipital Lobes
Located in the rear portion of the cortex.
Specialized for Vision.
Primary areas of the occipital lobes receive visual input from the thalamus.
Primary areas respond to basic input, associative areas organise the input into more complex schema.
The visual association cortex extends into neighboring lobes and projects to several other regions that receive other types of sensory info
Polysensory areas
Areas that receive information from more than one sensory system.
Existence of these areas allows us to associate the sight of a car braking hard to the sound of screeching tires.
The Parietal Lobes
located in front of the occipital lobes.
Involved in several functions, including sense of touch, detecting movement in the environment, locating objects in space and experiencing one’s own body as it moves through space.
Somatosensory Cortex
The primary area of the parietal lobe.
Lies directly behind the central fissure, which divides the parietal lobe from the frontal lobe.
Different sections of the somatosensory cortex receive information from different parts of the body.
Devotes space according to the importance, neural density (number of neurons) and complexity of the anatomical regions to which they are connected.
The motor cortex and the adjacent somatosensory cortex send and receive information from the same parts of the body.
The Frontal Lobes
Involved in a number of functions, including movement, attention, planning, social skills, abstract thinking, memory and some aspects of personality.
In the frontal lobes, the primary area is motor rather than sensory. The association cortex is involved in planning and putting together sequences of behaviour. Neurons in the primary areas then issue specific commands to motor neurons throughout the body.
The motor cortex
The primary zone of the frontal lobe.
Through projections to the basal ganglia, cerebellum and spinal cord, the motor cortex initiates voluntary movement.
The motor cortex and the adjacent somatosensory cortex send and receive information from the same parts of the body.
Parts of the body that produce fine motor movements or have particularly dense and sensitive receptors take up more space in the motor and somatosensory cortices.
The Broca’s Area
Located in the left frontal lobe at the base of the motor cortex.
Specilaised for movements of the mouth and tongue necessary to produce speech,
ALso plays a pivotl role in suing and undertanding grammar.
The Temporal Lobes
located in the lowers side portions of the cortex.
Particularly important in audition and language, although they have other functions as well.
The primary cortex receives sensory information from the ears, and the association cortex breaks the flow of sound into meaningful units (such as words). Cells in the primary cortex respond to particular frequencies of sound (i.e., to different tones) and are arranged anatomically from low (towards the front of the brain) to high frequencies (towards the back).
Wernicke’s Area
Located in the left temporal lobe.
Important in language comprehension.
