Researchers know that certain areas of the brain are responsible for certain general functions. In 1909, the German physician and researcher Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918), published Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. This treatise included maps of the localization of functions in the cerebral cortex. Brodmann’s maps are still used to depict the areas of cerebral cortex that are responsible for specific functions.
| Area |
Function |
| 1, 2, 3 |
Primary somatosensory area (touch, joint and muscle position, pain, temperature) |
| 4 |
Primary motor area (controls specific muscles or groups of muscles) |
| 5, 7 |
Somatosensory association area (integrates and interprets somatic sensations; also stores memories of past sensory experiences) |
| 6 |
Premotor area (deals with learned motor activities of a complex and sequential nature) |
| 8 |
Frontal eye field area (eye movements) |
| 9, 10, 11 |
Tertiary motor movement |
| 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 |
Vision (conveys visual information about shape and color; interpreting and evaluating visual experiences) |
| 22 |
Auditory association area (interprets sound as speech, music, or noise) |
| 28 |
Primary olfactory area (receives impulses for smell) |
| 39, 40 (also 22) |
Wernicke’s area (speech) |
| 41, 42 |
Primary auditory area (receives impulses for hearing the characteristics of sound, such as pitch and rhythm) |
| 43 |
Primary gustatory area (receives impulses for taste) |
| 44, 45 |
Broca’s area (speech) |
