The cerebrum houses the four major brain regions responsible for higher functioning. According to the Center for Neuro Skills, these four regions include the frontal lobes, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and the temporal lobe. The cerebrum is also referred to as the "cortex" or "cerebral cortex."
Frontal Lobes
The Center for Neuro Skills defines the frontal lobes as the emotional control centers of the brain. Facing the forehead on each side, the lobes encompass fine motor skill activity such as writing, problem-solving, spontaneity, memory storage and perceptions, language acquisition, judgment, impulse control, social skills and sexual behavior. This area similarly processes the perceptual feedback pulled in from environmental stimuli controlling high-risk behaviors and spatial orientation.
Parietal Lobe
The Merck Manual Home Edition defines the parietal lobe as associated with movement, coordination, orientation, recognition and perceptions from environmental stimuli. This lobe is especially important as it relates to sensations, calculating numbers, combing hair or dressing, driving a car, drawing pictures and carrying out other daily activities, which require manual dexterity.
Occipital Lobe
The occipital lobe is associated with the eyes and processing of visual stimuli received. This area, if damaged can result in cortical blindness.The Merck Manual Home Edition posits that without the occipital lobe function, it would be impossible to recognize faces and familiar objects like a fork, or make sense of surroundings.
Temporal Lobe
"Brain, A Journal for Neurology" suggests that the "wisdom" center in the temporal lobe perceives all auditory sounds and stimuli, while processing them into memory, and placing them into storage compartments--also referred to as encoding. The temporal lobe helps construct speech into audible patterns and furthers the comprehension of the spoken word. In decision-making and planning, the memory encoded by the temporal lobe assists the individual in making decisions or plans based on recall of events in each compartment. The previously aforementioned lobes or regions of higher brain function thereby contribute to what is currently known about a given situation, and the temporal lobe functions as this pivotal point at which action is triggered.
