Hank Bertock, Age 13, Of Magna, Utah, For His Question:
What is the function of the cerebrum?
The brain is cushioned in layers of liquid and skin and encased in the bony armor of the skull. One would expect such a well protected organ to be vital to the body and. So it is. The cerebrum is the largest and the most highly developed section of the human brain.
When we show good sense or intelligence, someone is apt to say that we are using our gray matter. This gray matter is the cortex, the rind or skin of the cerebrum section of the brain where most of our conscious decisions are made. The cortex assembles data from muscles and senses and issues orders to parts of the boor. The skills of language speaking, reading and writing are also carried on by the cortex of the cerebrum.
The cells of the entire body are united and co ordinated by the nervous system which is a complex communications system. Fine nerve threads, or axons, reach from the toes and other areas to join in the spinal cord. This cable of nerve tissue. Leads to the brain, which is the central. Headquarters of the nervous system.
Breathing and balancing and certain other automatic operations are controlled by brain centers near the spinal cord. Much of this work is done without our being aware of it. The conscious mind is housed in the cerebrum, the largest section of the brain which occupies the top, sides and front of the skull.
It is a soft wad of nerve tissues connected with all parts of the body. Its center is a mass of pulpy white matter. Its cortex is a thick, soft rind of gray matter. The white matter is countless axons sheathed in fatty white myelin. The gray matter is made from the cell bodies and nuclei of the nerve cells which are not covered in white myelin.
The gray cortex of the cerebrum is wrinkled like the skin of a walnut and grooved with deep ridges. We know from brain injuries that certain areas of the cortex control certain operations of the body. An area near the back of the cortex deals with sight. Each of the senses has its own area of the cortex where its problems are so1ved. Most muscles are also connected with their own cortex centers.
A deep groove runs down the center of the cerebrtum and subdivides it into a right hemisphere and a left hemisphere. Nerve cells reaching the cerebrum from the spinal cord cross over from one side to the other, and the left side of the cerebrum deals with problems from the right side of the body. An injury to the right side of the cerebrum causes loss of control in the left side of the body.