Motor Cortex - Part of Limbic System – emotional drives for activating other areas of

Pyramidal tract the brain and even provides motivational drive for the process of
Extrapyramidal tract learning itself
Dureza C. Abad, MD
Areas for Recognition of Faces
Cerebral cortex - Prosopagnosia – inability to recognize faces
- Physiologic anatomy - Medial undersides of both occipital lobes and medioventral surfaces
 2-5 ml thick of the temporal lobes
 ¼ square meter - Closely associated with the limbic system – emotions, brain
- Three types of Neuron: activation and control of one’s behavioural response to the
1. Granular – short interneuron, excitatory (glutamate), inhibitory environment
(GABA)
2. Fusiform – long Interpretative Function of Wernicke’s Area
3. Pyramidal – long output fibers
- Type of Fibers: - All sensory association areas and lobe meet in this area
 Horizontal Fibers - Dominant side
 Vertical Fibers - Plays greatest single role of any part of the cerebral cortex for the
- Function of specific layers: higher comprehension level called intelligence
 I,II,III – Intracortical assoc. function
 IV – receive sensory signals Angular gyrus – visual formation
 V – output signal, large fibers - Fusing with visual areas of the occipital area
 VI – output signal, to thalamus - Even with intact wernikes the person can see the words but cannot
interpret the meaning – dyslexia or word blindness
Relationship of Cerebral Cortex to Thalamus and other Centers
Dominant hemisphere
Thalamocortical system – all sensory pathways pass thru the thalamus Non-dominant hemisphere
except olfaction - Understanding and interpreting :
- Music
Functions of Specific Cortical Areas: - non-verbal visual experiences
a. Primary areas – motor/sensory - spatial relations between the person and their
b. Secondary areas – make sense out of signal in the primary surroundings
areas - body language
c. Association areas – - intonations of people’s voices
 Parieto-occipitotemporal
 Prefrontal Association Area Prefrontal Association Areas Damage
 Limbic Association Area 1. Patients lost their ability to solve complex problems
2. The became unable to string together sequential task to reach
Parieto-occipitotemporal complex goals
Association subfunctional Area 3. The became unable to learn to do several parallel task at the same
1. Analysis of the Spatial coordinates – posterior parietal time
2. Wernicke’s Area is important for Language comprehension – 4. Their level of aggressiveness was decreased, sometimes markedly
superior gyrus and they lost ambition
3. Angular Gyrus Area is needed for initial processing of visual 5. Their social responses are often inappropriate for the occasion, often
language (reading) – anterolateral of occipital lobe including loss of morals and little reticence in relation to sexual
4. Area for naming objects – anterior occipital and post temporal activity and excretion
lobe 6. The patients could still talk and comprehend language, but they
were unable to carry through any long trains of thought and their
Prefrontal Association Area mood change rapidly from sweetness to rage to exhilaration to
1. Function in close association with the motor cortex to plan madness
complex patterns and sequences of motor movements 7. The patients could also still perform most of the usual patterns of
2. Essential to carrying out “thought” processes in the mind motor function that they had performed throughout life, but often
3. Broca’s Area provides the neural circuitry for word formation without purpose

Limbic Association Area Prefrontal Lobe

- Found in the anterior pole of the temporal lobe, ventral frontal lobe
and cingulate gyrus - Decrease aggressiveness and inappropriate social responses
- Concerned with behaviour, emotions and motivations - Inability to progress towards goals or carry through sequential
thoughts – easily distracted
 - Elaboration of thought, prognostication and performance of higher - Negative Memory – inhibition of synaptic pathways with no
intellectual functions by prefrontal areas – Concept of a “Working consequence
Memory” - Positive Memory – facilitation of the synaptic pathways with
1. Prognosticate important consequences like pain and pleasure
2. Plan for the future
3. Delay action in response to incoming sensory signals so that Classification of Memories
the sensory information can be weighed until the best course 1. Short term memory – second to minutes
of response is decided - Continual neural activity resulting from nerve signals that
4. Consider the consequences of motor actions before they are travel around a temporary memory trace in a circuit of
performed reverberating neuron
5. Solve complicated legal or philosophical problems 2. Intermediate memory – minutes to weeks
6. Correlate all avenues of information in diagnosing rare - Will be lost unless the memory traces are activated
diseases enough to become more permanent
7. Control of activities in accord with moral laws - Needs activation of facilitator and sensory terminal
- Mechanism:
Communication Facilitator – serotonin – sensory terminal – activates
adenyl cyclase – formation of cAMP – phosphorylation of
Sensory Aspects: protein – blocks K channels for weeks – prolonged
- Ears and Eyes (Auditory and Visual Assoc. Areas activation of Ca channels – more Ca, prolonged action
- Word deafness – Auditory receptive aphasia potential
- Word blindness – dyslexia 3. Long term memory
- Wernickes aphasia – unable to interpret the thought that 1. Increase in vesicle release sites for secretion of transmitter
is expressed substance
- Global aphasia 2. Increase in number of transmitter vesicles released
3. Increase in number of presynaptic terminals
Motor Aspects 4. Changes in structures of the dendritic spines that permit
- Formation in the mind of thoughts to be expressed, transmission of stronger signal
choice of words - The structural capability of synapses to transmit signals appears to
- Motor control vocalization increase during establishment of true long term memory

Two pathways for Communication  Number of neurons and their connectivities often change significantly
during Learning
A. 1. Reception in the primary auditory area of  More neurons form after birth but dissolute within weeks if axons fail to
sound signals that encode the words connect to appropriate neurons
2. Interpretation of the words in Wernickes area  “Use it or Lose it”
3. Determination of thoughts and words to be spoken – Wernickes  Little learning in adult by modification of number of neurons in the memory
area circuits
4. transmission of signals from Wernickes area to Broca’s area by  Consolidation of memory
arcuate fasciculus  Short to long term memory
5. Activation of the skilled motor programs in Broca’s area for control  Rehearsal enhances the transference of short term memory into long term
of word formation memory
6. Transmission of appropriate signals into the motor cortex to control  Rehearsal of same information again and again in the mind accelerates
the speech muscle and potentiates the degree of transfer from short to long term memory

B. 1. Primary visual area

2. Angular gyrus for interpretation
3. Wernickes area for full recognition
4. Broca’s area – word formation
5. Motor cortex – speech muscles

Corpus Callosum
- Corpus callosum – Provide abundant bidirectional neural
connection between two cerebral hemisphere
- Anterior Commissure – connect two anterior portions of the temporal
lobes and amygdala

Thought, Consciousness, Memory

Lecture Date: February 24, 2015