Cerebral Cortex Function

The cerebral hemisphere is covered with a thin layer of gray matter called the cerebral cortex. This thin layer of tissue is gray in color. It contains neuronal cell bodies (soma) that are not covered with the insulation that makes the most of the brain appear white in color. There are over 1 billion cell bodies in the cerebral cortex. This region of the brain is made up of 6 horizontal layers that contain different types of neural connections and neurons.

Cerebral Cortex Function and Location
The outer region of the cerebrum is the cerebral cortex. It is about 1.5mm to 5mm in thickness. There are four cerebral cortex lobes; frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. The cerebral cortex is a highly convoluted or folded outer layer of the cerebrum. These convolutions are known as gyri that are separated by shallow grooves. These grooves are called sulci, that separate the cerebral hemisphere into cerebral cortex lobes. The frontal lobe location is anterior to parietal lobe. This is in turn anterior to the occipital lobe. The lateral part of the cerebral hemisphere is the temporal lobe. Now let us have a look at what are the functions of the cerebral cortex.

What are the Functions of the Cerebral Cortex?
The cerebral cortex covers over 2/3 of the human brain and is divided into the right and left hemisphere. It is the most developed region of the brain in many animals of the 'higher order', especially humans. Its function involves processes like thinking, perceiving, processing and understanding languages. There are functional areas of cerebral cortex that help in information processing. These functional areas are very important to carry out the thought and reasoning processes. Let us have a look at the functions in detail.

Frontal Lobe
The frontal lobe function involves problem solving, planning and making decision. It frontal lobe location is anterior to the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex. Other functions include motor functions, judgment, controlling impulse, memory and other high order functions.

Parietal Lobe
The parietal lobe function includes reception of sensory information from the body and processing this information to carry out appropriate action. The parietal lobe location is superior to the occipital lobes. It's present posterior to the central sulcus and frontal lobe. Other functions include spatial orientation, speech, visual perception, cognition as well as sensation of pain and touch.

Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe function includes helping one see, that is, vision. It is located at the tail end part of the cerebral cortex and helps in controlling vision as well as recognizing color.

Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobe function includes helping one hear, understand and express emotions, memory and language processing. The temporal lobe is located anterior to the occipital lobe and lateral to the Fissure of Sylvius.

The other functional areas include the following:

• Auditory Association Area: This the region where complex processing of auditory information takes place.
• Auditory Cortex: This region is involved in detection of sound quality like the loudness, tone, etc.
• Broca's Area: This the region of speech production and articulation.
• Motor Association Cortex: This functional area helps in coordination of complex movements.
• Prefrontal Cortex: The region for problem Solving, emotion, complex thoughts, etc. is the prefrontal cortex.
• Primary Motor Cortex: This area helps in initiation of voluntary movements of the body.
• Primary Somatosensory Cortex: This is where the tactile information from the body is received.
• Sensory Association Area: The process of multisensory information occurs in this area.
• Visual Association Area: This region helps in complex processing of visual information.
• Visual Cortex: Simple visual stimuli is located in this area.

This was all about the cerebral cortex function and location. You can understand more about the human brain in human brain diagram. In the end, one can summarize the functions as sensing and interpretation of various stimuli received by the body like vision, hearing, touch, pain, etc. The cerebral cortex is also involved with the cognitive functions like thoughts, perceiving information and grasping as well as understanding different languages.