Precentral cortex

The precentral cortex is an area of the frontal cortex that is located directly anterior to the central sulcus and includes both the primary motor cortex and the supplementary motor area. Inputs that project to both of these areas arise from a variety of locations in the brain that integrate sensory stimuli including the primary motor cortex, the thalamus and corticospinal projections. These two areas along with several other main functional areas control both the preparation of motor movement as well as the execution of movements. These main functional areas are crucial to the development of the motor related symptoms associated with frontal lobe epilepsy focally when seizures are located within these defined areas. The major functional areas include:
 * Primary Motor Cortex
 * Contains large neurons that project axons down to the spinal cord where they synapse onto alpha motor neurons. These neurons are involved in the planning of motor movements and the refining of motor movements based on sensory inputs that are received from the cerebellum.


 * Supplementary motor area
 * Area anterior to the primary motor cortex that is involved in planning complex motor movements and coordinating movements along both hands. The main inputs for this area are received from the thalamus.


 * Frontal eye field
 * The frontal eye field is a posterior part of the middle frontal gyrus and is involved in the control of saccadic, contralateral and conjugate eye movement. This area receives its main inputs from both the occipital cortex and dorsal thalamus.


 *  Broca's Area
 * Controls the motor movements of both the tongue and larynx that enables speech formation. This area receives direct inputs from the primary motor area as well as Wernicke's area located in the temporal lobe.