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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.

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.

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...

Visual System

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Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
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Visual Agnosia

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Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round end"...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 22, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Shifting attention within memory representations involves early visual areas.

Jaap Munneke¹, Artem V Belopolsky, Jan Theeuwes

¹Department of Cognitive Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Jaap.Munneke@unitn.it

|May 5, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Shifting attention within working memory activates early visual cortex, including V1, retinotopically. This suggests these brain areas support attention shifts even without external visual input.

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Last Updated: May 22, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

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Published on: March 18, 2019

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Published on: November 16, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroimaging
Visual Perception

Background:

Spatial attention typically modulates early visual cortex for external stimuli.
The role of these visual areas in attention shifts within working memory is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether early visual areas are modulated by attention shifts within working memory representations.
To determine if retinotopic activation occurs when attention is directed within memorized visual information.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to monitor brain activity.
Participants memorized visual stimuli and then shifted attention between locations within this memory representation based on verbal cues.

Main Results:

Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity patterns reflected the locus of attention within working memory.
Activity in early visual areas (V1-V3) decreased when attention moved away from a memorized location and increased when it moved towards it.

Conclusions:

Early visual cortex, including V1, supports retinotopic attention shifts within working memory, even without visual stimulation.
These findings suggest a shared neural mechanism for attention shifts in both external perception and internal memory representations.