association area
1
8.0
- noun
- /əˌsoʊsiˈeɪʃən ˈɛəriə/
- Specialized
:
área de asociación
- Basically auditory association areas but also visual and somatosensory are part of it.
- visual association area
Examples
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During darkness, the visual association areas of the brain, specifically the occipital and temporal lobes, become supersensitive during visual deprivation.
Academic text (1994) -
Evolutionarily, any ape could have evolved a greater amount of brain tissue and developed larger association areas if that had been advantageous for that ape.
Academic text (1995) -
And these are, we would call them association areas, but look at that prefrontal area.
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Apes lack these huge association areas.
Academic text (1995) -
The DLPFC is a high-level association area and is one of those brain regions that play a critical role in planning, executive function, and emotion regulation.
Blog text (12) -
It is here that formed vision is interpreted, and through areas called the visual association areas immediately in front of the occipital lobes, the information is appropriately interpreted and correct actions can be initiated (Livingstone 1988).
Academic text (1994) -
However, large association areas were useless without the improved sound-producing areas found in humans (the inferior part of Area 4 and Broca, the arcuate fasciculus, and the improved auditory areas with Wernicke).
Academic text (1995) -
The front part of the brain contains several important association areas that help us make decisions based on past experiences.
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Recent studies show that the association areas of the brain are crucial for linking sensory input with memory and reasoning.
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In patients with brain injuries, damage to the association areas can lead to difficulties in processing complex information.
Synonyms
Parts of the brain that help you think, plan, and understand information
How Complex
- Specialized
8
6.4
- Specialized
1
8.0
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'area' (a region) modified by 'association' (linking or integrating information) yields a region for associative processing. Although it's a technical neuroscience term, a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a cortical region involved in higher-order integration.
Etymology
Association area comes from the idea of an association, or meeting place, and an area in the brain where different pieces of information 'join' together. That's why the phrase means a part of the brain that 'mixes' signals from the senses and thinking to do more complex work like reasoning and problem solving.