The thin layer of GRAY MATTER on the surface of the CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES that develops from the TELENCEPHALON and folds into gyri and sulchi. It reaches its highest development in humans and is responsible for intellectual faculties and higher mental functions.

Type of cerebral cortex which does not pass through a perinatal phase of six-layered structure as in the NEOCORTEX and develops into three or four layers in the mature brain. Allocortex has three subareas: archi- paleo- and periallo-cortex.

Synonyms: Allocortices, Cerebral Cortex, Cortex Cerebrus, Cerebral Cortices, Cortical Plates, Paleocortex, Cortex, Cerebral, Archipalliums, Cortices, Cerebral, Insula of Reil, Cerebrus, Cortex, Cortex, Insular, Cerebri, Cortex, Plates, Cortical, Periallocortex, Cortices, Insular, Reil Insula, Periallocortices, Insular Cortex, Plate, Cortical, Allocortex, Cortex Cerebri, Archipallium, Paleocortices, Insular Cortices, Cortical Plate