The Cerebral Cortex directs the brain's higher cognitive and emotional functions. It is divided into two almost symmetrical halves called the cerebral hemispheres. Each hemisphere contains four lobes. Areas within these lobes oversee all forms of conscious experience, including perception, emotion, thought, and planning, as well as many unconscious cognitive and emotional processes.

•

The Frontal Lobe assists in motor control and cognitive activities, such as planning, making decisions, setting goals, and relating the present to the future through purposeful behavior.

•

The Parietal Lobe assists in sensory processes, spatial interpretation, attention, and language comprehension.

•

The Occipital Lobe processes visual information and passes its conclusions to the parietal and temporal lobes.

•

The Temporal Lobe assists in auditory perception, language comprehension, and visual recognition.

Research in Action:

The cerebral cortex plays a central role in the complex task of reading. Current research helps to explain how visual information, images of words, travels through the occipital lobe to language-processing areas found in the temporal and frontal lobes. This work may result in new approaches to treating dyslexia and other reading problems.