Name the four lobes of the cerebral cortex. What functions do they perform?

Cerebral Cortex is the outer layer of cells covering the cerebral hemispheres of brain. It is also called ‘grey matter” due to its greyish appearance, imparted by the high concentration of neuron cell bodies.

The four lobes of the cerebral cortex are frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and occipital lobe. Their functions are as follows:

• Frontal lobe − It is responsible for cognitive functions such as attention, thinking, memory, reasoning and learning. It also inhibits the autonomic and emotional responses.

• Parietal lobe − It is mainly concerned with cutaneous sensations and their coordination with visual and auditory sensations.

• Temporal lobe − It processes the auditory information. It also helps in understanding of speech and written language and memorising symbolic sounds and words.

• Occipital lobe − It interprets visual impulses, memorises visual stimuli and helps in colour visual orientation.