WHAT’S MY JOB?
This cortical area executes voluntary movement and is organized as a motor homunculus.
What is the primary motor cortex?
Damage here causes expressive aphasia—you understand language but cannot produce fluent speech.
What is Broca’s area?
This language-comprehension area communicates with Broca’s area through the arcuate fasciculus.
What is Wernicke’s area?
This prefrontal region handles organization, decision-making, working memory, and risk assessment.
What is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?
This area sits on the superior temporal gyrus
What is the primary auditory cortex?
This region plans complex movements before they are executed.
What is the premotor cortex?
A lesion here can cause color agnosia—You can see colors but can’t identify or name them.
What are the temporal association cortices (middle & inferior temporal gyri)?
This limbic structure receives major output from the hippocampus through the fornix.
What are the mammillary bodies?
This deep cortical region is the primary gustatory cortex.
What is the insula?
This cortical region receives sensory input from the body and sends refined signals forward to association areas for interpretation.
What is the primary somatosensory cortex?
This structure integrates sensation with memory, enabling writing, reading comprehension, and spatial awareness.
What is the somatosensory association cortex?
Damage to this limbic structure leads to impaired fear recognition, flattened affect, and difficulty forming emotional memories.
What is the amygdala?
This nucleus receives input from the substantia nigra and sends major output to the thalamus to regulate movement.
What is the globus pallidus?
This cortical region assigns meaning to sensory input—turning raw touch into recognition and context.
What is the somatosensory association cortex?
This cortical region receives the first cortical processing of visual input and is located along the calcarine sulcus.
What is the primary visual cortex?
This limbic structure consolidates short-term memories into long-term memories and also helps with spatial navigation.
What is the hippocampus?
Damage to this basal ganglia structure causes chorea (involuntary, random, and uncontrolled muscle contractions, primarily in the face, arms, and hands).
What is the caudate nucleus?
This eye-movement center works with the premotor cortex and selects contralateral gaze targets.
What are the frontal eye fields?
This prefrontal region evaluates reward, regulates social behavior, and is associated with emotional lability when damaged.
What is the orbitofrontal cortex?
This limbic/temporal structure is the first to atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease and is involved in topographic (map-like) memory.
What is the parahippocampal gyrus?
This basal ganglia nucleus regulates movement amplitude and is associated with tics and Tourette’s.
What is the putamen?
Severe injury here causes profound deficits in planning, judgment, organization, working memory, and behavior regulation.
What is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?
This white-matter tract carries memory-related output from the hippocampus to deeper limbic structures, including the hypothalamus.
What is the fornix?
This structure links emotion → motivation → behavior and plays a major role in drive and reward pathways.
What is the cingulate gyrus?
Damage to this region causes visual recognition deficits such as prosopagnosia, where faces are seen clearly but cannot be identified.
What is the parietal visual association cortex?