Cerebral Cortex

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Cerebral Cortex

• Information in this presentation is taken from
  UCCP Content

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Cerebral Cortex

• The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain.
  Only in humans does the cerebrum account for such
  a large portion of the brain. It is responsible
  for cognitive abilities such as thinking and
  language. The cerebrum consists of two
  hemispheres the left and right hemispheres.
  The hemispheres are connected by the corpus
  callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers. The surface
  or outer coating of the cerebrum is the cerebral
  cortex. The cerebral cortex is convoluted its
  wrinkled with ridges and valleys that allow for a
  lot of surface area to be packed into a small
  area of the brain.

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Cerebral Cortex

• Each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex is divided
  into 4 lobes
• The occipital lobe contains the primary visual
  cortex and is responsible for processing visual
  information.
• The temporal lobe contains the primary auditory
  cortex and is responsible for processing auditory
  information.
• The parietal lobe contains the sensory cortex,
  which receives sensory information from the skin
  and other body movements.
• The frontal lobe contains the motor cortex and
  the prefrontal cortex.

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Cerebral Cortex

• Each location in the sensory cortex represents
  touch sensations and body location information
  from a different body part. The entire body is
  mapped on the cortex. The top of the cortex
  begins with your toes and each body part has a
  location along the cortex until it reaches the
  face and tongue. The sensory cortex on the right
  side of the brain receives sensations from the
  left side of your body whereas the mirror image
  on the left side of your brain receives
  information from the right side of your body.
  There are more neurons responsible for receiving
  sensory information about the face and the head
  than there are neurons for receiving sensory
  information about the trunk of the body and the
  legs. This is one reason why our face and head
  are more sensitive to touch than other parts of
  our body.

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Cerebral Cortex

• Each location in the motor cortex regulates our
  movement of a different body part. The motor
  cortex lies next to the fissure that separates
  the frontal and parietal lobes and each body part
  is assigned a position on the cortex in the
  mirror image of the sensory cortex.
• The prefrontal cortex is comprised of many
  association areas, the areas of the cerebral
  cortex that are not primarily involved in
  sensation and motor activity. These association
  areas are involved in various aspects of higher
  order thinking, including short-term memory,
  planning, setting goals, creative thinking and
  decision-making.

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Cerebral Cortex Behaviors

• Try to determine which section of the cerebral
  cortex is responsible for the behaviors being
  explained (answers on following slide)
• Throughout the day, Peter repeatedly has skin
  sensations of a spider crawling on his right arm.
  When he went to brush it off, nothing was there.
  Doctors found he had damage to his
  _________________.
• Julie became unconscious after the back of her
  head was slammed against the seat of the car in
  an accident. She was blind when she awoke at the
  hospital. A neurological exam found she had
  damage to the _________________.
• When Rebecca fell down some stairs, she hit the
  left side of her head on the concrete. She
  initially had ringing out of her left ear. It
  was concluded she most likely had damage to her
  ______________.
• After having being in a tragic accident, Bob was
  never the same. He had difficulty making
  decisions or plans and he began acting in a
  socially inappropriate manner. A PET scan showed
  he had damage to the ___________________.

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Answers

1. Parietal lobe or sensory cortex
2. Occipital lobe
3. Temporal lobe
4. Frontal lobe or prefrontal cortex