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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.

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

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,...

Direct Motor Pathways

Direct Motor Pathways

The direct motor pathways, also known as the pyramidal tracts, are a group of neural pathways that originate in the brain and descend through the spinal cord. They control the voluntary movement of the body. There are two major direct motor pathways: the corticospinal and the corticobulbar tracts.
The corticospinal tract is responsible for the voluntary movement of the limbs and trunk. It originates in the cerebral cortex of the brain and descends through the cerebrum's internal capsule and the...

Hierarchy of Motor Control

Hierarchy of Motor Control

The hierarchy of motor control refers to the different levels of organization and processing involved in controlling movement in the body. These levels range from higher cortical areas involved in planning and decision-making to lower spinal cord reflexes that respond automatically to external stimuli.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Posterior parietal cortex encodes autonomously selected motor plans.

He Cui¹, Richard A Andersen

¹Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. hecui@vis.caltech.edu

|November 9, 2007

Summary

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) prospectively encodes movement plans for eye or hand actions. This brain region shows distinct activity based on the chosen action, not just sensory cues, revealing its role in action selection.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Primate Studies

Background:

The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is known to process sensory information and its behavioral relevance.
PPC neuronal activity differentiates based on instructed effector (eye vs. hand) movements.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether PPC selectivity reflects past cue meaning or future movement plans.
To determine if the PPC prospectively encodes action selection.

Main Methods:

Trained rhesus monkeys to autonomously choose between eye or hand movements to acquire a target.
Recorded neural activity in the PPC during self-initiated effector choices.

Main Results:

PPC neurons exhibited strong effector specificity under identical stimulus conditions.
Lateral intraparietal area (LIP) cells were selective for saccades (eye movements).
Parietal reach region (PRR) cells were selective for reaches (hand movements).

Conclusions:

PPC activity prospectively encodes the planned movement effector.
This provides definitive evidence for the PPC's role in action selection and movement preparation.