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Related Concept Videos

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,...

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...

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the cerebellum's...

Lobes of the Cerebrum

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.

Parallel Processing

Parallel Processing

The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 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

The prefrontal cortex modulates category selectivity in human extrastriate cortex.

Brian T Miller¹, Jason Vytlacil, David Fegen

¹University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|July 1, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a crucial role in how the brain processes visual information. Disrupting PFC function reduces the brain

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Last Updated: Jun 11, 2026

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

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Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

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Published on: June 20, 2012

Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention

Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention

Published on: September 11, 2017

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception

Background:

The extrastriate visual cortex shows distinct neural responses to different visual object categories like faces and scenes.
The precise mechanisms by which top-down influences modulate this category selectivity remain unclear.
Understanding top-down control is vital for comprehending visual information processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the causal role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in modulating visual category selectivity.
To examine how PFC disruption affects neural responses to faces and scenes in the extrastriate cortex.

Main Methods:

Experiment 1: Used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to disrupt PFC function in healthy participants.
Experiment 2: Studied stroke patients with focal PFC lesions, comparing activity between lesioned and intact hemispheres.
Measured stimulus-evoked activity in the extrastriate cortex before and after PFC perturbation.

Main Results:

Disrupting PFC function, via rTMS or lesions, led to less distinct category selectivity for faces and scenes in the extrastriate cortex.
Both methods showed a reduction in the brain's ability to differentiate between visual categories after PFC perturbation.
These findings indicate a significant impact of PFC on visual processing.

Conclusions:

The prefrontal cortex exerts a direct, causal influence on the top-down modulation of bottom-up visual signals.
PFC is essential for maintaining category-specific neural representations in the extrastriate visual cortex.
This research clarifies the role of PFC in visual perception and object recognition.