Cortical Structures

gustatory cortex

sensory taste

on the post central gyrus

pre-central gyrus

primary motor cortex

control of gross motor to limbs and trunk

homunculus pattern

pre-motor cortex

plans motor output

homunculus pattern

supplementary motor cortex

plans complex series of movements from memory

frontal eye fields

controls movements of extraocular muscles

pre-frontal cortex

executive function

planning, reasoning, problem solving, memory, personality, etc

pars triangularis and opercularis

brocas area

post central gyrus

primary somatosensory cortex

all sensory to cortex from body

homunculus pattern

somatosensory association cortex

makes sense of what is felt

supramarginal gyrus

provides sensory input to guide motor tasks

disorder=dyspraxia

primary auditory cortex and auditory association cortex

sensory information on what is heard

association makes sense of what is heard

Wernicke’s area

language comprehension

left side dominant

lesion=receptive aphasia

angular gyrus

reading association cortex

lesion=reading delay, agraphia, acalculia

olfactory cortex

smell

entorhinal cortex=association

close relationship with parahyppocampus

calcarine sulcus and cortex

primary visual cortex

lesion to calcarine cortex=cortical blindness

lesion to visual association cortex=visual agnosia

thalamus

routes all sensory information from periphery, cerebellum, and brainstem to the appropriate site in the cortex

epithalamus

contains the pineal gland (melatonin)

hypothalamus

contains autonomic nuclei (temperature, hunger/thirst, circadian rhythm, stress, etc) and connects the nervous system to the endocrine system (pituitary gland

basal ganglia

gating proper initiation of movement

cerebellum

sensory motor coordination of ongoing movement