Quick Facts
The cerebrum, or telencephalon, along with the diencephalon, makes up the forebrain, which is also known as the prosencephalon. It is the largest and most superior region of the human brain and is divided into left and right hemispheres. The left and right hemispheres are attached by a large white matter fiber tract called the corpus callosum.
It is responsible for generating and coordinating motor functions of the body, integrating and processing afferent visual, olfactory, somatosensory, gustatory and auditory sensory information, and also for higher order functions such as learning, decision making, and generating consciousness.
The cerebrum is divided into four lobes that make up each hemisphere. Each lobe performs different functions and some functions are performed to a greater extent by a particular cerebral hemisphere. The four lobes are the frontal lobe, located anteriorly, the occipital lobe, located posteriorly, the parietal lobe, located between the frontal and occipital lobes, and the temporal lobe, located laterally.
The cerebral cortex is the grey matter external part of the cerebrum, and in humans it is significantly folded, or convoluted, to contain the expansive surface area within the skull. The crevasses of these convolutions are referred to as sulci, with deeper depressions often comprising the 'fissures'. The ridges of the cerebral cortex are referred to as gyri.
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Telencephalon
The concept of development in the telencephalon encompasses both the processes that govern the maturation of individual cells within a lineage and the coordinated integrated maturation of multiple neural cell populations in various structures over time.
