The cerebral cortex, the wrinkled part of the brain that has a myriad of roles

Every human movement and behavior is regulated by the brain. However, the brain doesn't work alone. There are many parts of the brain that are responsible for carrying out various body functions. One of them is the cerebral cortex.

What is the cerebral cortex?

The cortex is the outermost layer of body tissue. That is why, all human organs have a cortex, such as the kidneys, adrenal glands, thymus, lymph nodes, and the brain.

The cerebral cortex is a thin layer (1.5 mm to 5 mm) that encloses the brain. The cerebral cortex is composed of creased folded projections called gyri and fissures called sulci. The cerebral cortex is covered by a meninges membrane composed of hundreds to thousands of nerve cells that are closely packed together. The cortex of the brain is also known as gray matter.

Brain anatomy and location of the cerebral cortex (source: days-eye)

Most of the processing of sensory information from the five senses takes place in the cerebral cortex. This part of the brain is the most developed part of the human brain and is responsible for thinking, understanding, speaking, producing and understanding language, memory, attention / alertness, care, awareness, organization and planning, problem solving, social skills, advanced motor function, to taking decision.

Over time, the human cortex contracts. This process occurs because the brain continues to collect and store all the information it gets over time. Therefore, the more wrinkles your brain is, the higher your intelligence level will be. These folds increase the surface area of ​​the brain, and therefore increase the amount of gray matter and the amount of information that can be processed.

Parts of the cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex is divided into four lobes, each of which has a specific function. These lobes include the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe. Here's the full review:

Parts of the cerebral cortex

Frontal lobe

The frontal lobe (blue in the image above) is the front part of the brain which is located just behind the forehead. The frontal lobe is responsible for regulating movement, judgment, decision making, problem solving, spontaneity and planning (impulse control), memory, language, and social and sexual behavior.

The right frontal lobe regulates the activities of the left side of the body, and conversely, the right frontal lobe regulates the activities of the left side of the body.

Parietal lobe

The parietal lobe (yellow in the image) is the main place for processing sensory information, such as taste, temperature, smell, hearing, sight and touch. The more sensory information the body gets, the more gyri and sulci are present in the lobes. Humans will not be able to feel the sensation of touch, if the parietal lobe is damaged.

The parietal lobe also functions as a spatial (spatial and dimensional) reasoning and direction navigator, which includes reading and understanding maps, preventing oneself from bumping into or hitting an object, and coordinating limbs without visual stimuli - for example feeding food into the mouth without having to look at the spoon.

Occipital lobe

The occipital lobe (pink in the image) lies beneath the parietal lobe. The occipital lobe is responsible for understanding what your eyes see. Lobes work very quickly to process the fast information sent by the eye, for example understanding text in a book or images on a banner.

If the occipital lobe is damaged or injured, we will not be able to properly process the visual signals, which can result in visual disturbances.

Temporal lobe

The temporal lobe (green in the image) lies beneath the frontal lobe and parietal lobe. The temporal lobe is involved in auditory and language perception, to process sound signal information from the ear into speech and words that we hear. This lobe is also the key to being able to process and understand the meaning of a speech.

The temporal lobe helps us recognize and distinguish all kinds of different sounds and pitches that are sent from the ear's sensory receptors. We wouldn't be able to understand someone talking to us, if it weren't for the temporal lobe.

In addition, the temporal lobe also plays a role in processing memories and emotions.

Limbic system structures such as the olfactory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus are located in this lobe.

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