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Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

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,...
Lobes of the Cerebrum01:22

Lobes of the Cerebrum

The cerebral cortex, a critical structure of the brain, is intricately divided into two hemispheres, each consisting of four distinct lobes: occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal. These lobes function cooperatively to regulate various cognitive and sensory functions, forming the basis of our complex neural capabilities.
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobes, located behind the forehead, are the command center of our brain, controlling personality, intelligence, and voluntary muscle movements.
Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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...
Somatosensation01:33

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.
Cerebral Hemispheres01:05

Cerebral Hemispheres

The human brain, a complex organ, is functionally divided into two cerebral hemispheres—left and right. These hemispheres are interconnected by a structure of paramount importance, the corpus callosum. This substantial bundle of neural fibers is not just a bridge between the hemispheres but a crucial element for the brain's comprehensive functioning. It enables efficient communication between the two hemispheres, allowing each side of the brain to control and receive sensory and motor...
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
09:32

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children

Published on: June 30, 2014

Heterogeneous structure in face-selective human occipito-temporal cortex.

Lisa R Betts1, Hugh R Wilson

  • 1York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. bettslr@mcmaster.ca

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|October 7, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human brain areas process faces using distinct neuron populations. Research shows face-sensitive regions in the occipito-temporal cortex contain neurons tuned to whole faces, facial features, and head outlines.

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Last Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
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Published on: June 30, 2014

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Analyzing Neural Activity and Connectivity Using Intracranial EEG Data with SPM Software

Published on: October 30, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • The human visual system processes faces through a distributed network of specialized brain regions.
  • Current understanding of how faces are represented within these face-sensitive areas remains incomplete.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether face-sensitive brain areas are exclusively tuned to whole faces or if they contain neurons tuned to both individual facial components and whole faces.
  • To explore the neural representation of faces in the human brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Main Methods:

  • Utilized fMRI to measure brain activity in response to synthetic whole face stimuli, internal facial features, and head outlines.
  • Employed adaptation paradigms to assess the tuning properties of neurons within face-sensitive regions, specifically the fusiform face area (FFA) and occipital face area (OFA).

Main Results:

  • Both FFA and OFA showed robust activation to whole faces, internal features, and head outlines.
  • FFA exhibited adaptation effects consistent with distinct neuronal populations for whole faces and head outlines, while OFA showed cross-adaptation between whole faces and head outlines.
  • Internal facial features did not induce significant adaptation effects in either FFA or OFA.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support a model where face-sensitive regions in the human occipito-temporal cortex contain independent neuronal populations tuned to whole faces, facial features, and head outlines.
  • This distributed representation likely supports complex facial processing tasks, including viewpoint, emotion, and identity discrimination.