cerebral cortex
(noun)
The grey, folded, outermost layer of the cerebrum that is responsible for higher brain processes such as sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory.
(noun)
The grey, folded, outermost layer of the cerebrum responsible for higher brain processes such as sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory.
Examples of cerebral cortex in the following topics:
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- The cerebral cortex is the outermost layered structure of the brain and controls higher brain functions such as information processing.
- The cerebral cortex, the largest part of the mammalian brain, is the wrinkly gray outer covering of the cerebrum.
- The cerebral cortex is considered the ultimate control and information-processing center in the brain.
- The cortex is wrinkly in appearance.
- Beneath the cerebral cortex is the cerebrum, which serves as the main thought and control center of the brain.
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- An individual's sensory organs take in an emotional stimulus, and then information about that stimulus is relayed to the cerebral cortex.
- It is in the cortex where such information is associated with conditioned processes, which in turn determine the direction of the response and stimulate the thalamic processes.
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- Studies conducted using rats illustrate how the brain changes in response to experience: rats who lived in more enriched environments had larger neurons, more DNA and RNA, heavier cerebral cortices, and larger synapses compared to rats who lived in sparse environments.
- At birth, there are approximately 2,500 synapses in the cerebral cortex of a human baby.
- By three years old, the cerebral cortex has about 15,000 synapses.
- Generally, the number of neurons in the cerebral cortex increases until adolescence.
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- It also receives output from the cerebral cortex about where these body parts should be.
- Ventral areas control motor function and convey motor information from the cerebral cortex.
- It consists of two lobes of grey matter along the bottom of the cerebral cortex.
- Because nearly all sensory information passes through the thalamus it is considered the sensory "way station" of the brain, passing information on to the cerebral cortex (which is in the forebrain).
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- Wernicke's area, located in the
cerebral cortex, is the part of the brain involved in understanding written and
spoken language.
- The primary auditory cortex,
located in the temporal lobe and connected to the auditory system, is organized
so that it responds to neighboring frequencies in the other cells of the
cortex.
- The areas of the brain necessary for processing language: Broca's area, Wernicke's area, the primary motor cortex, the posterior middle temporal gyrus, and the middle and posterior superior temporal gyrus.
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- Recent functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging (fMRI) studies detected working memory signals in the medial temporal lobe and the prefrontal cortex.
- Activity in different lobes of the cerebral cortex have been linked to the formation of memories.
- Short-term memory is supported by brief patterns of neural communication that are dependent on regions of the prefrontal cortex, frontal lobe, and parietal lobe.
- The hippocampus receives input from different parts of the cortex and sends output to various areas of the brain.
- The processes of consolidating and storing long-term memories have been particularly associated with the prefrontal cortex, cerebrum, frontal lobe, and medial temporal lobe.
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- These impulses travel through the central nervous system, stop at the sensory way-station of the thalamus, and then are routed to the visual cortex.
- From the visual cortex, the information goes to the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe.
- Approximately one-third of the cerebral cortex plays a role in processing visual stimuli.
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- These neural impulses enter the cerebral cortex of the brain, which is made up of layers of neurons with many inputs.
- Within the primary motor cortex, motor neurons are arranged in an orderly manner—parallel to the structure of the physical body, but inverted.
- The toes are represented at the top of the cerebral hemisphere, while the mouth is represented at the bottom of the hemisphere, closer to the part of the brain known as the lateral sulcus.
- These representations lie along a fold in the cortex called the central sulcus.
- The motor homunculus is a theoretical visualization of the locations in the cortex that correspond to motor and sensory function in the body.
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- Computed tomography (CT) studies have found that the cerebral ventricles expand as a function of age in a process known as ventriculomegaly.
- More recent MRI studies have reported age-related regional decreases in cerebral volume.
- The brain begins to lose neurons in later adult years; the loss of neurons within the cerebral cortex occurs at different rates, with some areas losing neurons more quickly than others.
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- The corpus callosum is a wide, flat bundle of neural fibers beneath the cortex that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication.
- The occipital lobe contains most of the visual cortex and is the visual processing center of the brain.
- The visual cortex receives raw sensory information through sensors in the retina of the eyes, which is then conveyed through the optic tracts to the visual cortex.
- Damage to the primary visual cortex (located on the surface of the posterior occipital lobe) can cause blindness, due to the holes in the visual map on the surface of the cortex caused by the lesions.
- The parietal lobe is comprised of the somatosensory cortex and part of the visual system.