Cerebral Cortex
thalamus and of the cortex.
(Intellectual Functions of the Brain,
Learning and Memory)
Cerebral Cortex
4 Lobes of Cerebral Cortex
1. Frontal Lobe- primary responsible
for higher cortical function such as
thinking and decision making and it
is also responsible for motor
movement.
2. Parietal Lobe- primary responsible
for interpretation and for receipt of
sensory input.
3. Temporal Lobe- primary responsible
for short term memory and hearing.
4. Occipital Lobe- it’s for vision
Physiologic Anatomy
Functional part: thin layer on surface of
convolution
3 types of Neurons
1. Granular (Stellate)
2. Fusiform
3. Pyramidal – giant neurons and
pyramid shape and more numerous
Neurons in the Cortex
 Granular: interneuron
 Pyramidal and Fusiform: Output
fibers
Cerebral Cortex and the Thalamus
 Thalamocortical system
o Thalamus
o Cortex
 The damage or lose of cerebral
function is greater when the cortex
and thalamus are damage compared
to when the cortex alone is damage.
 Signals goes to Thalamus and then
back to cortex from the thalamus ,
any damage that cuts the connection
between the thalamus and cortex
will cause loss of function of the
Functional Areas of the Cortex
 Motor Cortex
 Primary sensory- detect the sensory
input from the senses
 Secondary sensory- interprets that
comes, that were detected by the
primary sensory area
-analyze the meanings of sensory
signals which is interpretation of
shape, light, direction of angles,
meaning of sound and tunes.
Association Areas
 Parieto-Occipitotemporal
association area
 Spatial coordinates of the
body
- provides a continuous
analysis of the spatial
coordinates of all parts and
surroundings of the body.
- They will receive visual
sensory information from the
posterior occipital and
simultaneous somatosensory
information from the anterior
parietal.
 Wernicke’s Area
-major area for language
comprehension intelligence
meaning understanding of
language
 Angular Gyrus
-processing area for visual
language
 Agraphia – ability to
write
 Alexia – ability to read
 Area for naming objects
 Agnosia – able to
identify an object
 Prefrontal association area
-primary function in close
association with your motor cortex to
 plans complex pattern and sequence
of motor moments.
-describes simply as important for
elaboration of thought and it is also
said to stored details, certain details
on a short term bases known as
working memories
 Thought process
 Working process
 Broca’s Area – word
formation
 Limbic association area
-concerned in behavior, emotions,
and motivation.
 Emotions
Area for Recognition of Faces
 Prosopagnosia
-inability to recognize faces
-this condition occurs in people who
have extensive damage on the
medial undersize in both occipital
lobe.
Specific Areas
 Wernicke’s Area
-comprehension of language
-somatic interpretative areas and
auditory interpretative areas are all
connected.
-AKA
 General Interpretative Area
 Gnostic area
 Knowing area
 Tertiary association area
Aphasia - inability to recognize thought
Receptive/Wernicke’s area - cannot receive
Broca’s Areas – expressive aphasia
 Angular Gyrus
 Reading
The Dominant Hemisphere Concept
 At birth the left is larger than the
right
 Corpus Callosum-bridge of the two
Hemisphere transfer information to
the Left to Right
 “use it or lose it”
Role of Language
 Memory is stored as words
(Language)
Parieto-occipitotemporary cortex in the
Nondominant Hemisphere
 Dominant – language based
 Non Dominant
 Body Language, Music, Vocal
intonation, etc.
Higher Intellectual Functions
 Prefrontal Lobotomy
 Unable to solve complex
problems
 Unable to string sequential tasks
 Unable to learn parallel tasks
 Decreased aggressiveness
 Inappropriate social responses
 Unable to carry trains of thought
 Labile mood
 Unpurposeful motor functions
Decreased Aggressiveness and
Inappropriate Social Responses
 Loss of part of the limbic association
Cortex
Inability to Progress toward Goals on to
carry through Sequential thoughts
 Little effort in logical sequence of
thought
Working Memories
 Prognosticate
 Planning
 Delay to weigh in new information
 Consider consequences
 Solving
 Correlation
 Inhibition
Transfer of information between the
Hemispheres
-the corpus callosum and anterior
commissure transfer thoughts, Memories,
Training, and other information between the
two cerebral hemispheres.
Corpus Callosum and the Anterior
Commissure
 Anterior Commissure – amygdala
and anterior temporal lobes
 Corpus Callosum – the rest of the
hemispheres
Severed Corpus Callosum
 Wernicke’s area of dominant cannot
motor of left
 Visual and somatic information from
the right cannot be interpreted in the
left
 Two separate conscious portions of
the brain
 Able to react with emotion to
something but unable to explain
why
Thoughts, Consciousness, and Memory
Memory
 Memory traces – facilitated
pathways
Positive and Negative Memory
 Habituation
– Negative memory
--inhibition of synaptic pathways
 Sensitization
– Positive memory
--enhanced
Classification of Memories
 Short-term memory
- Seconds or minutes unless
converted to longer memories
 Intermediate long-term memories
 Long-term memory
Memories According to Type of
Information
 Declarative memory
 Integration of surrounding, time,
cause, meaning, deductions
 Skill memory
Short-term Memory
 Continual neural activity
Intermediate long-term Memory
 Minutes to weeks
 Eventually lost
 Temporary Chemical/Physical
changes in the synapse
Long-term Memory
 An increase in vesicle release sites
 An increase in the number of
transmitter vesicles released
 An increase in the number of
presynaptic terminals
 Changes in structures of the
dendritic spines that permit
transmission of stronger signals
Consolidation of memory
 Repetition (repetition is the key to
getting your message across)
Role of the Hippocampus and other
Brain Regions in Memory
 Anterograde Amnesia
- Forward (antero) or after
damaged, the person is unable
to retain memories
 Retrograde Amnesia
- Thalamic
- Hippocampal Lesions (part
antero/retrograde (back) before
the damage)