Cerebral Cortex

Cerebral Cortex
S.Akila
• It is a sheet of neural tissue that surrounds the cerebrum of the
brain.
• It is completely made of grey matter underlying white matter
which consists of axons communicating to and from cortex.
• It has an area of 2.2 sqm in human beings & about 2-4 mm thick.
• Cerebral cortex is usually folded, providing a greater surface area
without increasing the size of brain.
• The ridge is termed as gyrus and the groove is termed as sulcus.
Gyrus & Sulcus
• There are three functional areas of
cerebral cortex:
• 1.Sensory areas.
• 2.Motor areas.
• 3.Association areas.
• SENSORY AREAS :Receive and process
information from sensory receptors in
the body
• Primary visual cortex (occipital lobe)
• Primary auditory cortex (temporal lobe)
• Primary somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe)
• Motor areas : The motor cortex is the region
of the cerebral cortex involved in
the planning, control, and execution of
voluntary movements.
• Primary Motor Cortex
• Motor Association Cortex
• Frontal Eye Field
• Prefrontal Cortex
• Broca’s Area
Four Lobes of the Cerebral cortex
• Association areas : They integrate
incoming sensory information, and also
form connections between sensory and
motor areas.
Cerebral cortex is subdivided into four lobes:
• Frontal lobe (motor control, thinking &
reasoning)
• Parietal lobe (process sensory information)
• Temporal lobe (language, speech
production, memory, emotion)
• Occipital lobe (main center for visual
processing)
Frontal lobe
• The frontal lobe is in charge of executive
functions such as problem solving,
planning, judgement, motivation, social
behavior, decision making, impulse control,
personality, memory, learning, reward, and
attention.
• It also helps in planning, control, and
execution of voluntary muscle movements.
Specific Cortical areas in Frontal lobe
• Primary Motor Cortex
• Motor Association Cortex
• Frontal Eye Field
• Prefrontal Cortex
• Broca’s Area
Primary Motor Cortex (Area 4)
• The role of the primary motor cortex is to initiate and execute voluntary muscle movements.
• The medial aspect of the primary motor cortex controls voluntary movements to the lower extremities, and the
lateral aspect of the primary motor cortex controls voluntary movements to the upper extremities and face.
• Furthermore, the left primary motor cortex (left hemisphere) will control most of the movements to the right
side of the body, and the right primary motor cortex (right hemisphere) will control most of the movements to
the left side of the body.
Motor Association Cortex (Premotor Cortex/Supplementary Motor Cortex (Area 6)

• The motor association cortex is made up of the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor cortex.
• The function of the motor association cortex is to plan and coordinate movements, whereas the primary motor
cortex is more involved in actually executing the movement itself.
Frontal Eye Field area (Area 8)

• It is involved in the planning, control, and execution of eye movements.
Prefrontal Cortex (Area 6 - 12)

• The prefrontal cortex is located in the anterior frontal lobe.
• It is involved in memory, behavior, and executive functions such as decision-making, judgement, problem
solving, planning, etc.
Broca’s Area (Area 44,45)

• Broca’s area is usually located in the dominant hemisphere, so for most people this will be the left hemisphere
since they are right-handed.
• Broca’s area stimulates the muscles that help us produce speech and form words
Parietal lobe
• The parietal lobe is responsible for conscious
awareness of somatic sensations such as touch,
pain, pressure, temperature, vibration, etc.
• The parietal lobe also plays a key role in
processing and analyzing somatosensory
information
• The parietal lobe is involved in proprioception
as it processes sensory stimuli and provides us
with spatial and body position awareness
Specific Cortical areas in Parietal lobe
• Primary Somatosensory Cortex
• Somatosensory Association Cortex
• Posterior Association Area
Primary Somatosensory Cortex (Area 3,1,2)
• It is involved in conscious awareness of somatosensory stimuli such as touch, pain,
temperature, pressure, vibrations, etc.
• The medial aspect of the primary somatosensory cortex receives somatosensory stimuli
from the lower extremities, whereas the lateral aspect receives information from the
upper extremities and face.
Somatosensory Association Cortex (Area 5)
• It analyzes and processes somatosensory stimuli to help us recognize and understand
the stimulus.
Posterior Association Area
• The somatosensory stimuli from the parietal lobe, the visual stimuli from the occipital
lobe, and the auditory stimuli from the temporal lobe all meet in the posterior
association area.
• The union of somatosensory, visual, and auditory stimuli in the posterior association
area is important for proprioception and spatial awareness of our body position and
surroundings
Occipital lobe
• The occipital lobe is involved in

awareness, processing, analyzing, and
recognition of visual stimuli
Specific Cortical areas in Occipital lobe
• Primary Visual Cortex
• Visual Association Cortex
The primary visual cortex (Area 17)
• It is located in the posterior occipital lobe, and it
functions to make us consciously aware of visual
stimuli.
Visual Association Cortex (Area 18 & 19)
• The visual association cortex will compare visual
stimuli to previous visual memories and form new
memories.
• It analyzes and processes visual stimuli to help us
recognize and understand the stimulus.
Temporal Lobe
• The temporal lobe functions to make us
consciously aware of auditory stimuli such
as various pitches, frequencies, and sounds.
• The temporal lobe also processes and
analyzes auditory stimuli so we can
recognize them.
• The temporal lobe is involved in the sense
of smell and language comprehension
Specific Cortical areas in Temporal lobe
• Primary Auditory Cortex

• Auditory Association Cortex
• Wernicke’s Area
• Primary Olfactory Cortex/Olfactory
Association Cortex
Primary Auditory Cortex (Area 41)
• The primary auditory cortex is responsible for conscious awareness of
Auditory stimuli
Auditory Association Cortex (Area 42)
• The auditory association cortex will analyze sounds, compare them to old
auditory memories, and form new memories.
• The auditory association cortex analyzes and processes auditory stimuli to
help us recognize and understand sounds.
Wernicke’s area (Area 22)
• It is involved in comprehension and understanding of written and spoken
language
Primary Olfactory Cortex/Olfactory Association Cortex (Area 35)
• The primary olfactory cortex and olfactory association cortex is responsible
for awareness of smell

Cerebral Cortex

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Cerebral Cortex

Motor Association Cortex (Premotor Cortex/Supplementary Motor Cortex (Area 6)

Frontal Eye Field area (Area 8)

Prefrontal Cortex (Area 6 - 12)

Broca’s Area (Area 44,45)

• The occipital lobe is involved in

• Primary Auditory Cortex

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