Association cortex

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The association cortex is a part of the cerebral cortex that performs complex cognitive functions. [1] [2] Unlike primary sensory or motor areas, which process specific sensory inputs or motor outputs, the association cortex integrates information from various sources to support higher-order cognitive processes. This integration allows for complex functions such as perception, language, and thought. Therefore, species that possess large amounts of association cortex tend to show advanced reasoning skills. [3]

Contents

The association cortex is generally divided into unimodal and heteromodal (or polymodal) areas, which process either a single sensory modality or multiple modalities, respectively.

Types

Examples in humans

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A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combination of two conscious states of brain wakefulness and REM sleep. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming, which does not involve wakefulness; pseudohallucination, which does not mimic real perception, and is accurately perceived as unreal; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; and mental imagery, which does not mimic real perception, and is under voluntary control. Hallucinations also differ from "delusional perceptions", in which a correctly sensed and interpreted stimulus is given some additional significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensory nervous system</span>

The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons, neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception and interoception. Commonly recognized sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, balance and visceral sensation. Sense organs are transducers that convert data from the outer physical world to the realm of the mind where people interpret the information, creating their perception of the world around them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parietal lobe</span> Part of the brain responsible for sensory input and some language processing

The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temporal lobe</span> One of the four lobes of the mammalian brain

The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.

The primary sensory areas are the primary cortical regions of the five sensory systems in the brain. Except for the olfactory system, they receive sensory information from thalamic nerve projections. The term primary comes from the fact that these cortical areas are the first level in a hierarchy of sensory information processing in the brain. This should not be confused with the function of the primary motor cortex, which is the last site in the cortex for processing motor commands.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claustrum</span> Structure in the brain

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobes of the brain</span> Parts of the cerebrum

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The perirhinal cortex is a cortical region in the medial temporal lobe that is made up of Brodmann areas 35 and 36. It receives highly processed sensory information from all sensory regions, and is generally accepted to be an important region for memory. It is bordered caudally by postrhinal cortex or parahippocampal cortex and ventrally and medially by entorhinal cortex.

The sensory cortex can refer informally to the primary somatosensory cortex, or it can be used as a term for the primary and secondary cortices of the different senses : the visual cortex on the occipital lobes, the auditory cortex on the temporal lobes, the primary olfactory cortex on the uncus of the piriform region of the temporal lobes, the gustatory cortex on the insular lobe, and the primary somatosensory cortex on the anterior parietal lobes. Just posterior to the primary somatosensory cortex lies the somatosensory association cortex, which integrates sensory information from the primary somatosensory cortex to construct an understanding of the object being felt. Inferior to the frontal lobes are found the olfactory bulbs, which receive sensory input from the olfactory nerves and route those signals throughout the brain. Not all olfactory information is routed to the olfactory cortex: some neural fibers are routed to the supraorbital region of the frontal lobe, while others are routed directly to limbic structures. The direct limbic connection makes the olfactory sense unique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elkhonon Goldberg</span> American neuropsychologist

Elkhonon Goldberg is a neuropsychologist and cognitive neuroscientist known for his work in hemispheric specialization and the "novelty-routinization" theory.

The neuroanatomy of memory encompasses a wide variety of anatomical structures in the brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superior temporal sulcus</span> Part of the brains temporal lobe

In the human brain, the superior temporal sulcus (STS) is the sulcus separating the superior temporal gyrus from the middle temporal gyrus in the temporal lobe of the brain. A sulcus is a deep groove that curves into the largest part of the brain, the cerebrum, and a gyrus is a ridge that curves outward of the cerebrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Functional specialization (brain)</span> Neuroscientific theory that different regions of the brain are specialized for different functions

In neuroscience, functional specialization is a theory which suggests that different areas in the brain are specialized for different functions.

The parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) considers intelligence to relate to how well different brain regions integrate to form intelligent behaviors. The theory proposes that large scale brain networks connect brain regions, including regions within frontal, parietal, temporal, and cingulate cortices, underlie the biological basis of human intelligence. These regions, which overlap significantly with the task-positive network, allow the brain to communicate and exchange information efficiently with one another. Support for this theory is primarily based on neuroimaging evidence, with support from lesion studies. The P-FIT is influential in that it explains the majority of current neuroimaging findings, as well as increasing empirical support for cognition being the result of large-scale brain networks, rather than numerous domain-specific processes or modules. A 2010 review of the neuroscience of intelligence described P-FIT as "the best available answer to the question of where in the brain intelligence resides".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auditosensory cortex</span>

Auditosensory cortex is the part of the auditory system that is associated with the sense of hearing in humans. It occupies the bilateral primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the mammalian brain. The term is used to describe Brodmann area 42 together with the transverse temporal gyri of Heschl. The auditosensory cortex takes part in the reception and processing of auditory nerve impulses, which passes sound information from the thalamus to the brain. Abnormalities in this region are responsible for many disorders in auditory abilities, such as congenital deafness, true cortical deafness, primary progressive aphasia and auditory hallucination.

References

  1. Armstrong, R. A. (1 January 2021). "Chapter 1 - The structure of the human brain as revealed in six histological sections". Diagnosis, Management and Modeling of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Academic Press: 3–11. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  2. Betts, J Gordon; Desaix, Peter; Johnson, Eddie; Johnson, Jody E; Korol, Oksana; Kruse, Dean; Poe, Brandon; Wise, James; Womble, Mark D; Young, Kelly A (May 14, 2023). Anatomy & Physiology. Houston: OpenStax CNX. 16.2 The mental status exam. ISBN   978-1-947172-04-3.
  3. Krawczyk, Daniel C. (1 January 2018). "Chapter 3 - The Neuroscience of Reasoning". Reasoning. Academic Press: 41–69. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  4. Mendoza, John E. (2011). "Unimodal Cortex". Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer. p. 2578. ISBN   978-0-387-79948-3 . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  5. Buchanan, Robert W.; Francis, Alan; Arango, Celso; Miller, Karl; Lefkowitz, David M.; McMahon, Robert P.; Barta, Patrick E.; Pearlson, Godfrey D. (February 2004). "Morphometric Assessment of the Heteromodal Association Cortex in Schizophrenia". American Journal of Psychiatry. 161 (2): 322–331. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.2.322. ISSN   0002-953X . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  6. "Higher Cortical Functions: Association and Executive Processing (Section 4, Chapter 9) Neuroscience Online: An Electronic Textbook for the Neurosciences | Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy - The University of Texas Medical School at Houston". nba.uth.tmc.edu. Retrieved 5 June 2023.