Posterior cortex usually means the posterior (back) part of the complete
cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. The cerebral cortex mostly consists of the six-layered neocortex, with just 10% consisting o ...
and includes the
occipital,
parietal, and
temporal cortices. In other words, the posterior cortex includes all the cerebral cortex without the
frontal
Front may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film
* ''The Front'', 1976 film
Music
*The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ea ...
cortex.
In combination with specific cortical areas, 'posterior cortex' usually refers to the posterior (back) part of that cortical area. For example: the
posterior parietal cortex is the posterior part of the parietal cortex and the
posterior cingulate cortex
The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is the caudal part of the cingulate cortex, located posterior to the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the upper part of the " limbic lobe". The cingulate cortex is made up of an area around the midline of th ...
is the posterior part of the cingulate cortex.
Function of the posterior cortex
The posterior cortex is the “sensory” cortex, much as the
frontal cortex
The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove be ...
is the “action” cortex. The posterior cortex is responsible for encoding the sensory content (
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight ...
,
auditory, and
tactile
Tactile may refer to:
* Tactile, related to the sense of touch
* Haptics (disambiguation)
* Tactile (device), a text-to-braille translation device
See also
* Tangibility, in law
* Somatosensory system
In physiology, the somatosensory system ...
) of any experience (both real and imaginary experience). The posterior cortex with the exception of the primary sensory areas (
Primary visual cortex (V1),
primary auditory cortex
The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations ...
, and
somatosensory cortex) was called by
Christof Koch
Christof Koch ( ; born November 13, 1956) is a German-American neurophysiologist and computational neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural basis of consciousness. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for B ...
and colleagues the
posterior cortical hot zone for its close association with the minimal neural substrate essential for conscious perception.
[{{cite journal , last1=Koch , first1=Christof , last2=Massimini , first2=Marcello , last3=Boly , first3=Melanie , last4=Tononi , first4=Giulio , title=Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems , journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience , date=1 May 2016 , volume=17 , issue=5 , pages=307–321 , doi=10.1038/nrn.2016.22, pmid=27094080 , s2cid=5395332 , url=https://zenodo.org/record/439357 ]
References
Medical terminology