How to Use cerebral cortex in a Sentence

cerebral cortex

noun
  • Ideas are spilling madly from his cerebral cortex to the page.
    — Cydney Alexis, Slate Magazine, 6 Jan. 2017
  • My trusty reporter’s notebook was back home, and my cerebral cortex was switched to airplane mode.
    — Christopher Muther, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Apr. 2023
  • They were not expected to be found in birds because of their small brains and the absence of a cerebral cortex.
    — Onur Güntürkün, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2020
  • Folds in the cerebral cortex introduce a third dimension there too.
    — R. Douglas Fields, Quanta Magazine, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Biologists have understood for a long time that goals take shape in the brain’s cerebral cortex.
    — Kevin Hartnett, Quanta Magazine, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Growing up poor risks the development of a smaller cerebral cortex.
    — The Economist, 3 May 2018
  • Cytokines produce inflammation, which is perceived as pain by the cerebral cortex of the brain.
    — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 22 June 2020
  • Studies show that play improves memory and stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex.
    — Heather Wishart-Smith, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2022
  • An autopsy revealed that a type of yeast that causes fungal infections was found in his cerebral cortex.
    — Kristine Phillips, Alaska Dispatch News, 28 Oct. 2017
  • After all, fish don’t have a cerebral cortex, which helps other animals perform complex tasks.
    — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 21 Apr. 2022
  • During these episodes, three areas of the cerebral cortex light up, ones that deal with visual memory and perception.
    — Longreads, 10 June 2019
  • The resulting paper described the cerebral cortex as an atlas of meaning.
    — Eric Boodman, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2026
  • The myelin sheath is crucial for optimal transmission, but people begin to lose myelin in the cerebral cortex in their senior years.
    — R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 12 Mar. 2020
  • Anjum Shaik, 10, said her favorite part of the brain display was learning about the cerebral cortex and how each lobe has its own role.
    — Priscella Vega, latimes.com, 24 Apr. 2018
  • Gray matter of the brain is the cerebral cortex, which controls sensations and functions such as speech, thinking and memory.
    — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 5 Mar. 2020
  • Consciousness has long been thought to be localized in the cerebral cortex of smart primates—namely, chimps, bonobos and us humans.
    — Bret Stetka, Scientific American, 24 Sep. 2020
  • And because stingrays don’t even have a cerebral cortex, this strongly suggested that nobody needs an enormous brain to learn how to perform basic math.
    — Joe Queenan, WSJ, 19 May 2022
  • Neurons that make connections between the brain and the body are organized to create a virtual map in the cerebral cortex.
    — R. Douglas Fields, Quanta Magazine, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Karama et al show that childhood IQ is correlated with the thickness of the brain's cerebral cortex in old age.
    — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 8 June 2013
  • While this study focused on visual perception, Gepshtein points out that neural waves are a property of many parts of the cerebral cortex.
    — Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 16 July 2022
  • Alzheimer also noted that Deter’s cerebral cortex was thinner than normal, and that senile plaque was also present.
    — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2025
  • This network is a critical hub in the brain that links parts of the cerebral cortex to deeper and older structures involved in memory and emotion.
    — Gareth Cook, Scientific American, 15 May 2018
  • Alzheimer was interested in the normal and pathological anatomy of the brain’s cerebral cortex.
    — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2025
  • In 2014, a woman undergoing surgery for epilepsy had a tiny chunk of her cerebral cortex removed.
    — Isabel Fraser, WIRED, 15 Aug. 2024
  • The researchers found that certain regions of the cerebral cortex showed lower neuron density in autistic children than in controls.
    — Alison Escalante, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024
  • Combing massages all of the acupoints of the head, which regulates excitement and inhibition in of the cerebral cortex.
    — Zoe Weiner, Allure, 27 July 2018
  • Even in this case, where a basic interpretation might be that schizophrenia is linked to the volume of the cerebral cortex, the answer is not that straightforward.
    — Tom Hawking, Popular Science, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Indeed, researchers have found that raccoon forepaws are mapped onto their cerebral cortex – the outer layer of the brain – in a similar manner as human hands.
    — Kelly Lambert, Fortune, 16 Jan. 2026
  • The occipital lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex, the thick outer layer of gray matter covering our noggins’ hemispheres.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 1 Aug. 2018
  • Overall, the athletes had a thicker cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain that’s responsible for cognition.
    — Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 28 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cerebral cortex.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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