The neocortex (Latin for "new bark" or "new rind") is a part of the brain of mammals. NeuroNames is a system of nomenclature for the human and/or macaque Brain. Medical Subject Headings ( MeSH) is a huge Controlled vocabulary (or metadata system for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books Elsevier, the world's largest Publisher of Medical and Scientific literature, forms part of the Reed Elsevier group Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Bark, also known as periderm is the outermost layer of stems and Roots of Woody plants such as Trees It overlays the Wood and consists The brain is the center of the Nervous system in animals All Vertebrates and the majority of Invertebrates have a brain Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands It is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres, and made up of six layers, labelled I to VI (with VI being the innermost and I being the outermost). A cerebral hemisphere ( hemispherium cerebrale) is defined as one of the two regions of the Brain that are delineated by the body's median plane. The neocortex is part of the cerebral cortex (along with the archicortex and paleocortex, which are cortical parts of the limbic system). The cerebral cortex is a structure within the Brain that plays a key role in Memory, Attention, perceptual Awareness, Thought, Archicortex is basically categorized under Allocortex. It is any cortex with fewer than six areas specifically three layered hippocampal cortexes The paleocortex is a layer of the Cerebral cortex intermediate phylogenetically between the Neocortex and Archicortex. The limbic system, or Paleomammalian brain is a term for a set of brain structures including the Hippocampus and Amygdala and anterior thalamic nuclei and a limbic It is involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and, in humans, language. Senses are the physiological methods of Perception. The senses and their operation classification and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields Motor cortex is a term that describes regions of the Cerebral cortex involved in the planning control and execution of voluntary motor functions Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Other names for the neocortex include neopallium ("new mantel") and isocortex ("equal rind"). Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in Medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the Smoke

Anatomy

The neocortex consists of the grey matter, or neuronal cell bodies and unmyelinated fibers, surrounding the deeper white matter (myelinated axons) in the cerebrum. Myelin is an electrically-insulating Dielectric Phospholipid layer that surrounds only the Axons of many Neurons It is an outgrowth White matter is one of the three main solid components of the Central nervous system. Myelin is an electrically-insulating Dielectric Phospholipid layer that surrounds only the Axons of many Neurons It is an outgrowth An axon or nerve fiber is a long slender projectionof a nerve cell or Neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's Cell The telencephalon (tɛlɛnˈsɛfəlɒn cerebrum, or forebrain is the most Anterior or especially in humans most Dorsal region of the Whereas the neocortex is smooth in rodents and other small mammals, it has deep grooves (sulci) and wrinkles (gyri) in primates and other larger mammals. Rodentia is an order of Mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must A sulcus (pronounced with a hard c (pl sulci) is a depression or fissure in the surface of an organ especially the Brain. A gyrus (pl gyri) is a ridge on the cerebral cortex. It is generally surrounded by one or more sulci. A primate is a member of the biological order Primates ( Latin: "prime first rank" the group that contains Lemurs the Aye-aye These folds increase the surface area of the neocortex considerably without taking up too much more volume. This has allowed primates and especially humans to evolve new functional areas of neocortex that are responsible for enhanced cognitive skills such as working memory, speech, and language. Working memory (also referred to as Short term memory, depending on the specific theory is a theoretical construct within Cognitive psychology that refers to the

The neocortex contains two primary types of neurons, excitatory pyramidal neurons (~80% of neocortical neurons) and inhibitory interneurons (~20%). A pyramidal cell (or pyramidal neuron, or projection neuron) is a multipolar Neuron located in the Hippocampus and Cerebral An interneuron (also called association neuron, local circuit neuron or relay neuron) is a neuron which connects Afferent neurons and Efferent The structure of the neocortex is relatively uniform (hence the names "iso-" and "homotypic" cortex): it consists of six horizontal layers segregated principally by cell type and neuronal connections. The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known living Organisms It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living and is often called Neurons (ˈnjuːɹɒn also known as neurones and nerve cells) are responsive cells in the Nervous system that process and transmit information However, there are many exceptions to this uniformity; for example, the motor cortex lacks layer IV. Motor cortex is a term that describes regions of the Cerebral cortex involved in the planning control and execution of voluntary motor functions There is some canonical circuitry within cortex; for example, pyramidal neurons in the upper layers II and III project their axons to other areas of neocortex, while those in the deeper layers V and VI project primarily out of the cortex, e. An axon or nerve fiber is a long slender projectionof a nerve cell or Neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's Cell g. to the thalamus, brainstem, and spinal cord. The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος = room chamber, IPA= /ˈθæləməs/ is a pair and symmetric part of the brain The brain stem (or brainstem) is the lower part of the Brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the Spinal cord. The spinal cord is a long thin tubular bundle of Nerves that is an extension of the Central nervous system from the brain and is enclosed in and protected Neurons in layer IV receive all of the synaptic connections from outside the cortex (mostly from thalamus), and themselves make short-range, local connections to other cortical layers. Chemical synapses are specialized junctions through which Neurons signal to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in Muscles or Glands Thus, layer IV receives all incoming sensory information and distributes it to the other layers for further processing.

The neurons of the neocortex are also arranged in vertical structures called neocortical columns. A cortical column, also called hypercolumn or sometimes cortical module, is a group of neurons in the Brain cortex which can be successively These are patches of the neocortex with a diameter of about 0. 5 mm (and a depth of 2 mm). Each column typically responds to a sensory stimulus representing a certain body part or region of sound or vision. Sound' is Vibration transmitted through a Solid, Liquid, or Gas; particularly sound means those vibrations composed of Frequencies In Psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret information from Visible light reaching the Eyes The resulting Perception is also These columns are similar, and can be thought of as the basic repeating functional units of the neocortex. In humans, the neocortex consists of about a half-million of these columns, each of which contains approximately 60,000 neurons.

The neocortex is divided into frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes, which perform different functions. The frontal lobe is an area in the Brain of Mammals It is located at the front of each Cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to (in front of the The parietal lobe is a lobe in the Brain. It is positioned above (superior to the Occipital lobe and behind (posterior to the Frontal lobe. The temporal lobes are parts of the cerebrum that are involved in speech, Memory, and Hearing. The occipital lobe is the visual processing center of the Mammalian Brain containing most of the anatomical region of the Visual cortex. For example, the occipital lobe contains the primary visual cortex, and the temporal lobe contains the primary auditory cortex. The term visual cortex refers to the primary visual cortex (also known as striate cortex or The primary auditory cortex is the region of the Brain that is responsible for processing of auditory ( Sound) information Further subdivisions or areas of neocortex are responsible for more specific cognitive processes. In humans, the frontal lobe contains areas devoted to abilities that are enhanced in or unique to our species, such as complex language processing localized to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Broca's area) and social and emotional processing localized to the orbitofrontal cortex. The frontal lobe is an area in the Brain of Mammals It is located at the front of each Cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to (in front of the Broca's area is a section of the human brain that is involved in Language processing, speech or sign production and comprehension The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC is a region of association cortex of the Human brain involved in cognitive processes such as Decision-making. (See Cerebral cortex and Cerebrum. The cerebral cortex is a structure within the Brain that plays a key role in Memory, Attention, perceptual Awareness, Thought, The telencephalon (tɛlɛnˈsɛfəlɒn cerebrum, or forebrain is the most Anterior or especially in humans most Dorsal region of the )

The female human neocortex contains approximately 19 billion neurons while the male human neocortex has 23 billion. Neurons (ˈnjuːɹɒn also known as neurones and nerve cells) are responsive cells in the Nervous system that process and transmit information ^[1] Additionally, the female neocortex has more white matter, while the male neocortex contains more grey matter. The implications of such differences are not fully known.

Evolution

With respect to evolution, the neocortex is the newest part of the cerebral cortex (hence the name "neo"); the other parts of the cerebral cortex are the paleocortex and archicortex, collectively known as the allocortex. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 The cerebral cortex is a structure within the Brain that plays a key role in Memory, Attention, perceptual Awareness, Thought, The paleocortex is a layer of the Cerebral cortex intermediate phylogenetically between the Neocortex and Archicortex. Archicortex is basically categorized under Allocortex. It is any cortex with fewer than six areas specifically three layered hippocampal cortexes The allocortex is a part of the Cerebral cortex characterized by fewer cell layers than the Isocortex, or Neocortex (i The cellular organization of the allocortex is different from the six-layer structure mentioned above. In humans, 90% of the cerebral cortex is neocortex.

The six-layer cortex appears to be a distinguishing feature of mammals; it has been found in the brains of all mammals, but not in any other animals. There is some debate,^[2][3] however, as to the cross-species nomenclature for neocortex. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. In avians, for instance, there are clear examples of cognitive processes that are thought to be neocortical in nature, despite the lack of the distinctive six-layer neocortical structure. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. In a similar manner, reptiles, such as turtles, have primary sensory cortices. Reptiles, or members of the class Reptilia are air-breathing Cold-blooded Vertebrates that have skin covered in scales as opposed to hair or feathers Turtles are Reptiles of the Order Testudines (all living turtles belong to the Crown group Chelonia) most of A consistent, alternative name has yet to be agreed upon.

See also

• List of regions in the human brain
• Blue Brain, a project to produce a computer simulation of a neocortical column and eventually a whole neocortex
• Software model of the neocortex by Jeff Hawkins (http://www.numenta.com/)
• Model of the neocortex by the Brain Engineering Laboratory at Dartmouth College (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rhg/Research4Neo.html)
• Dr. Neo Cortex, a fictional character of the Crash Bandicoot series, whose name is based on the neocortex. Anatomical regions of the brain are listed vertically following hierarchies that are standard in Neuroanatomy. Blue Brain is a project begun in May 2005 to create a Computer simulation of the brain of mammals including the human Brain, down to the molecular level Crash Bandicoot is a platform game published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation

References