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Related Concept Videos

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI

Published on: February 19, 2014

Temporal properties of surround suppression in cat primary visual cortex.

Séverine Durand¹, Tobe C B Freeman, Matteo Carandini

¹Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. severine@brain.riken.jp

Visual Neuroscience

|August 10, 2007

Summary

Surround suppression in the visual cortex is distinct from cross-orientation suppression. This study suggests surround suppression involves both thalamic and cortical influences, unlike cross-orientation suppression which appears primarily thalamic.

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Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

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Published on: February 19, 2014

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Visual Processing
Sensory Systems

Background:

Neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) exhibit surround suppression, a phenomenon where stimuli outside the receptive field inhibit neural responses.
The origin of surround suppression (intracortical inhibition, lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) influence, or a combination) is debated.
Mechanisms of surround suppression may differ from cross-orientation suppression within the receptive field.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare the temporal properties of surround suppression and cross-orientation suppression.
To elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms of surround suppression.

Main Methods:

Studied temporal properties of surround suppression in anesthetized and paralyzed cats.
Measured temporal resolution by varying stimulus drift rates.
Assessed susceptibility to contrast adaptation.

Main Results:

Surround suppression decreased significantly when surround stimuli drifted above approximately 15 Hz, differing from LGN neuron responses.
Contrast adaptation, which affects cortical neurons more than LGN neurons, reduced the strength of surround suppression.
Results contrasted with previous findings on cross-orientation suppression, which showed LGN-like temporal properties.

Conclusions:

Surround suppression and cross-orientation suppression likely involve different neural mechanisms.
Surround suppression may result from a combination of thalamic and cortical influences.
Alternatively, surround suppression could be solely intracortical if inhibitory neurons have higher drift rate sensitivities.