PSYweb

Sagittal view

 Frontal Lobe thinking, planning, & central executive functions; motor execution.

 Parietal Lobe somatosensory perception  integration of visual & somatospatial information.

 Temporal Lobe language function and auditory perception   involved in long term memory and emotion.

 Occipital Lobe visual perception and processing.

Mid-sagittal view

The numbers superimposed on the above brain images are what constitute the Brodmann's map of cytoarchitectonics. Brodmann assigned numbers to various brain regions by analyzing each area's cellular structure starting from the central sulcus [the boundary between the frontal and parietal lobes]. The following table provides a general view of brain function that refers to the Brodmann map.

Functional Areas of the Brain

As you may notice, many of the areas that are involved in the same general cognitive functions are numbered sequentially (or almost). This is no coincidence. For example, areas of the brain that participate in motor control send more information out to execute its commands than do areas involved in vision, which receive more information than they send out. Areas that perform the same tasks use essentially the same types of cells.

In general, information tends to flow from the back of the brain to the front. The brain expends most of its energy packaging sensory input from all available modalities into a coherent view of the environment. Vision is combined with somatosensory information to give a sense of where one's body is in space. Memory functions in the temporal lobe allow for recognition of the visual perceptions. The processed sensory input finally makes its way to the frontal lobe where decisions are made regarding the various stimuli.