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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.

Visual System

Visual System

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.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

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,...

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.

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex with Wide-View Retinotopic Stimulation

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex with Wide-View Retinotopic Stimulation

Published on: December 8, 2023

Multidimensional feature tuning in category-selective areas of human visual cortex.

Leonard E van Dyck^1,2,3, Martin N Hebart^2,4,3, Katharina Dobs^5,3

¹Department of Computer Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 39392, Giessen, Germany leonard.van-dyck@uni-giessen.de.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|June 17, 2026

Summary

Human visual cortex organization is explained by dimensions that link category-selective areas to continuous feature maps. This reconciles categorical and dimensional views of visual processing.

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Last Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex with Wide-View Retinotopic Stimulation

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Published on: December 8, 2023

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

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Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Visual Perception

Background:

Human high-level visual cortex is described by categorical (category-selective areas) and dimensional (continuous feature maps) views.
The relationship between these two organizational accounts remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if categorical and dimensional views represent complementary aspects of a single organizational principle in the human visual cortex.
To identify underlying functional organization that reconciles these two prominent accounts.

Main Methods:

Used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record brain activity in participants viewing natural images.
Applied data-driven decomposition of fMRI responses within face-, body-, and scene-selective areas.
Analyzed spatially overlapping activity patterns shared across individuals.

Main Results:

Identified interpretable dimensions within category-selective areas that capture both within-category and between-category distinctions.
These dimensions were present even in highly category-selective voxels.
Dimensions formed distinct clusters within areas but extended as distributed maps across the visual cortex.

Conclusions:

The findings reveal an underlying functional organization that integrates category-selective areas with continuous feature maps.
This reconciles the categorical and dimensional accounts of high-level visual cortex organization.
Explains how visual cortex balances specificity and flexibility for perception and cognition.