Các hiệp hội các khu vực vỏ não (Hình 9-8) là các vùng não nằm ngoài các khu vực vỏ não cảm giác hoặc vận động chính nhưng tiếp giáp với họ. Các khu vực Hiệp hội không được coi là một phần của đường cảm giác, nhưng thay vì đóng một vai trò quan trọng trong | I Vander et al. Human I II. Biological Control Physiology The Systems Mechanism of Body Function Eighth Edition PART TWO Biological Control Systems 9. The Sensory Systems The McGraw-Hill Companies 2001 232 Specific ascending pathways Nonspecific ascending pathway FIGURE 9-7 Diagrammatic representation of two specific sensory pathways and a nonspecific sensory pathway. Frontal lobe association area Auditory cortex Temporal lobe association area Occipital lobe association area Somatosensory cortex Parietal lobe association area Visual cortex FIGURE 9-8 Areas of association cortex. Association Cortex and Perceptual Processing The cortical association areas Figure 9-8 are brain areas that lie outside the primary cortical sensory or motor areas but are adjacent to them. The association areas are not considered part of the sensory pathways but rather play a role in the progressively more complex analysis of incoming information. Although neurons in the earlier stages of the sensory pathways are associated with perception information from the primary sensory cortical areas is elaborated after it is relayed to a cortical association area. The region of association cortex closest to the primary sensory cortical area processes the information in fairly simple ways and serves basic sensory-related functions. Regions farther from the primary sensory areas process the information in more complicated ways including for example greater input from areas of the brain serving arousal attention memory and language. Some of the neurons in these latter regions also receive input concerning two or more other types of sensory stimuli. Thus an association-area neuron receiving input from both the visual cortex and the neck region of the somatosensory cortex might be concerned with integrating visual information with sensory information about head position so that for example a tree is understood to be vertical even though the viewer s head is tipped sideways. Fibers from neurons of the .
