Not Medical Advice: The cerebral cortex has its major growth period before birth. Part of the brain responsible for such basic bodily functions as breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and sleep wake cycle is called brain stem.
The cerebrum, the largest part of the brain, sits above the brain stem and cerebellum. While each of the brain’s structures plays an essential role, the cerebrum is the area most involved in higher processes like memory and learning. The cerebrum’s outer surface is called the cerebral cortex. Although less than one-fourth of an inch thick (in adulthood), it is where the brain’s most advanced activities – such as planning and decision-making – take place.
The folds of the cerebral cortex, which give the brain its wrinkled appearance, are an important feature of the brain’s structure. Appearing during prenatal development, these folds increase the surface area of the cerebral cortex and allow more of it to be “packed” inside the skull. The resulting ridges and grooves form a pattern that is essentially the same from person to person. The ridges are called gyri (singular=gyrus); the grooves are called sulci (singular=sulcus).
The human brain is the command center for the human nervous system. It receives input from the sensory organs and sends output to the muscles.
The human brain has the same basic structure as other mammal brains, but is larger in relation to body size than any other brains. Get facts, functions and anatomy of the human brain at Livescience.com.