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The cerebral cortex: characteristics, functions and parts

Everything we do, feel, think, imagine, as well as our ability to move is possible thanks to the cerebral cortex. Do you want to know more about this crust? Keep reading!

The brain is one of the largest, most mysterious and complex organs in our body.. It is made up of billions of neurons that communicate with each other thanks to synapses. It consists of two cerebral hemispheres, the outer layer called the cerebral cortex (gray matter) and the inner layer (white matter).

Due to the optimal functioning of the cerebral cortex, humans have the ability to perceive, as well as imagine, think, make judgments and make decisions. Finally, Thanks to it we can understand language and be aware of the world and our own existence.

The cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is made up of a huge number of neurons (10 billion). These cells are responsible for cognitive processing and the conscious mind. This is where the electrical-chemical signals from the senses arrive. These sensory inputs are processed at different levels and regions. The integrated information from these signals is used to generate specific actions.

The surface area of ​​the cerebral cortex is approximately 250,000 mm² and due to its numerous folds it represents around 40-50% of the mass of the entire brain. These folds allow this cortex to house a large number of neurons and develop many specialized regions that represent various parts of the body (Cechetto and Topolovec, 2002).

The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that makes us unique. Among its functions are the following:

Consciousness. Higher order thinking. Imagination. Information processing. Language. Memory. Perception. Reasoning. Sensation. Voluntary physical action.

Parts of the cerebral cortex

In the last two decades, research on evolutionary cytoarchitecture and connectivity has strengthened the conception of the cortex as a structural and functional spectrum in which different stages of differentiation are observed, the extremes of which are the allocortex (archicortex and paleocortex) and the neocortex. (Pimienta, 2004).

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Archicortex

This part corresponds to the hippocampus and connects with the amygdala and the entorhinal cortex. It has a cytoarchitecture with a predominance of pyramidal shapes, which is recognizable in all stages of its progression towards the neocortex (Pimienta, 2004). The archicortex is responsible for the automatic responses responsible for survival.

Paleocortex

The paleocortex is halfway between the archicortex and the neocortex.. It is the part of the cerebral cortex that corresponds to the termination areas of the olfactory pathways. The olfactory brain is located in this layer.

Neocortex

Phylogenetically speaking, the neocortex is the most recent part of the cerebral cortex. Is considered which is responsible for our reasoning ability, logical thinking, consciousness, among others. It is the one in charge of all higher mental functions and executive functions. This cortex is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital.

frontal lobe

It is the most anterior structure of the cerebral cortex, located behind the forehead, in front of the central fissure and above the lateral fissure. They are divided into three large regions: the orbital region, the medial region and the dorsolateral region. This lobe has different functions for our body (Flores and Ostrosky-Solís, 2008):

Planning.Behavioral control.Mental flexibility.Working memory.Metacognition.Mentalization or theory of mind.Social cognition.Social behavior.

parietal lobe

This lobe is essential for integrating sensory information, so that we can build a picture of the world around us. They allow us to perceive our bodies and integrate somatosensory information such as touch, pressure and temperature (Guy-Evans, 2021). It is located in the posterior part of the frontal lobe and superior to the temporal lobe.

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The parietal lobe is divided into two parts: anterior and posterior. The anterior part contains the primary sensory region. The posterior one, in turn, is divided into two sections: the upper one and the lower one. The upper part contains the somatosensory association cortex, which is involved in higher-order functions such as motor planning (Jawabri and Sharma, 2019).

The inferior region contains the secondary somatosensory cortex, which receives somatosensory input from the thalamus. and integrates those inputs with other major modalities such as vision and hearing. This part of the parietal allows the formation of complex higher-order functions such as (Jawabri and Sharma, 2019):

Sensorimotor planning.Learning.Spatial recognition.Stereognosia: the ability to differentiate between objects in terms of their size, shape, weight and any other differences.

Temporal lobe

The temporal lobe is located behind the ears, on the lower side of the head. It is associated with memory, hearing, emotions and some aspects of language.

The left temporal lobe is related to language comprehension, memorizing verbal information, speech formation, and learning.

The right temporal lobe is associated with memory for non-verbal information, recognition of information, and determination of facial expressions.

The temporal lobes depend on both sensory input from the environment and input from other brain regions (Guy-Evans, 2021).

Occipital lobe

It is located in the back of the brain. The functions of this lobe are related to visual processing and interpretation. Typically, based on function and structure, the visual cortex is divided into five areas.

The primary visual cortex is the first to receive visual information from the thalamus. Thus, it is responsible for receiving, processing and interpreting visual information, to send it to the other regions of the brain (such as the inferior temporal lobe) for subsequent analysis (Jawabri and Sharma, 2019).

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To close, The cerebral cortex is a complex structure that is characterized by its structural, neurochemical and functional diversity.. Each of its parts works to process certain aspects of reality, to then be integrated into that unit that we perceive in the world. Thanks to the cerebral cortex we have become what we are as a species and as individuals.

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All cited sources were reviewed in depth by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, validity and validity. The bibliography in this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.

Cechetto, DF and Topolovec, JC (2002). Cerebral Cortex. Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, 663–679. doi:10.1016/b0-12-227210-2/00087-xGarcía, EG, Marqués, JG and Unturbe, FM (2011). Mirror neurons and theory of mind in the explanation of empathy. Anxiety and stress. Flores, J. and Ostrosky-Solís, F. (2008). Neuropsychology of frontal lobes, executive functions and human behavior. Neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and neurosciences journal, 8(1), 47-58.Jawabri, KH and Sharma, S. (2019). Physiology, cerebral cortex functions. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538496/Pimienta, H.J. (2004). The cerebral cortex beyond the cortex. Colombian Journal of Psychiatry, 33(1), 58S-75S.Valverde, F. (2002). Structure of the cerebral cortex. Intrinsic organization and comparative analysis of the neocortex. Rev Neurol, 3. 4(8), 758-780.

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