Parietal lobe

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Parietal lobe
Principal fissures and lobes of the cerebrum viewed laterally. (Parietal lobe is shown in yellow)
Gray726 parietal lobe.png
Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. (Parietal lobe is shown in orange.)
Details
Pronunciation /pəˈraɪ.ɪtəl/ pə-RY-it-əl [1]
Part of Cerebrum
Artery Anterior cerebral
Middle cerebral
Vein Superior sagittal sinus
Identifiers
Latin lobus parietalis
MeSH D010296
NeuroNames 95
NeuroLex ID birnlex_1148
TA98 A14.1.09.123
TA2 5467
FMA 61826
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy

The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus.

Contents

The parietal lobe integrates sensory information among various modalities, including spatial sense and navigation (proprioception), the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch in the somatosensory cortex which is just posterior to the central sulcus in the postcentral gyrus, [2] and the dorsal stream of the visual system. The major sensory inputs from the skin (touch, temperature, and pain receptors), relay through the thalamus to the parietal lobe.

Several areas of the parietal lobe are important in language processing. The somatosensory cortex can be illustrated as a distorted figure – the cortical homunculus [3] (Latin: "little man") in which the body parts are rendered according to how much of the somatosensory cortex is devoted to them. [4] The superior parietal lobule and inferior parietal lobule are the primary areas of body or spatial awareness. A lesion commonly in the right superior or inferior parietal lobule leads to hemispatial neglect.

The name comes from the parietal bone, which is named from the Latin paries-, meaning "wall".

Structure

Animation. Parietal lobe (red) of left cerebral hemisphere. Parietal lobe animation small.gif
Animation. Parietal lobe (red) of left cerebral hemisphere.

The parietal lobe is defined by three anatomical boundaries: The central sulcus separates the parietal lobe from the frontal lobe; the parieto-occipital sulcus separates the parietal and occipital lobes; the lateral sulcus (sylvian fissure) is the most lateral boundary, separating it from the temporal lobe; and the longitudinal fissure divides the two hemispheres. Within each hemisphere, the somatosensory cortex represents the skin area on the contralateral surface of the body. [4]

Immediately posterior to the central sulcus, and the most anterior part of the parietal lobe, is the postcentral gyrus (Brodmann area 3), the primary somatosensory cortical area. Separating this from the posterior parietal cortex is the postcentral sulcus.

The posterior parietal cortex can be subdivided into the superior parietal lobule (Brodmann areas 5 + 7) and the inferior parietal lobule (39 + 40), separated by the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). The intraparietal sulcus and adjacent gyri are essential in guidance of limb and eye movement, and—based on cytoarchitectural and functional differences—is further divided into medial (MIP), lateral (LIP), ventral (VIP), and anterior (AIP) areas.

Function

Functions of the parietal lobe include:

The parietal lobe plays important roles in integrating sensory information from various parts of the body, knowledge of numbers and their relations, [5] and in the manipulation of objects. Its function also includes processing information relating to the sense of touch. [6] Portions of the parietal lobe are involved with visuospatial processing. [7] Although multisensory in nature, the posterior parietal cortex is often referred to by vision scientists as the dorsal stream of vision (as opposed to the ventral stream in the temporal lobe). This dorsal stream has been called both the "where" stream (as in spatial vision) [8] and the "how" stream (as in vision for action). [9] The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) receives somatosensory and visual input, which then, through motor signals, controls movement of the arm, hand, and eyes. [10]

Various studies in the 1990s found that different regions of the posterior parietal cortex in macaques represent different parts of space.

More recent fMRI studies have shown that humans have similar functional regions in and around the intraparietal sulcus and parietal-occipital junction. [18] The human "parietal eye fields" and "parietal reach region", equivalent to LIP and MIP in the monkey, also appear to be organized in gaze-centered coordinates so that their goal-related activity is "remapped" when the eyes move. [19]

Emerging evidence has linked processing in the inferior parietal lobe to declarative memory. Bilateral damage to this brain region does not cause amnesia however the strength of memory is diminished, details of complex events become harder to retrieve, and subjective confidence in memory is very low. [20] [21] [22] This has been interpreted as reflecting either deficits in internal attention, [23] deficits in subjective memory states, [22] or problems with the computation that allows evidence to accumulate, thus allowing decisions to be made about internal representations. [20]

Clinical significance

Features of parietal lobe lesions are as follows:

Damage to this lobe in the right hemisphere results in the loss of imagery, visualization of spatial relationships and neglect of left-side space and left side of the body. Even drawings may be neglected on the left side. Damage to this lobe in the left hemisphere will result in problems in mathematics, long reading, writing, and understanding symbols. The parietal association cortex enables individuals to read, write, and solve mathematical problems. The sensory inputs from the right side of the body go to the left side of the brain and vice versa.

The syndrome of hemispatial neglect is usually associated with large deficits of attention of the non-dominant hemisphere. Optic ataxia is associated with difficulties reaching toward objects in the visual field opposite to the side of the parietal damage. Some aspects of optic ataxia have been explained in terms of the functional organization described above.

Apraxia is a disorder of motor control which can be referred neither to "elemental" motor deficits nor to general cognitive impairment. The concept of apraxia was shaped by Hugo Liepmann. [24] [25] Apraxia is predominantly a symptom of left brain damage, but some symptoms of apraxia can also occur after right brain damage. [26]

Amorphosynthesis is a loss of perception on one side of the body caused by a lesion in the parietal lobe. Usually, left-sided lesions cause agnosia, a full-body loss of perception, while right-sided lesions cause lack of recognition of the person's left side and extrapersonal space. The term amorphosynthesis was coined by D. Denny-Brown to describe patients he studied in the 1950s. [27]

Can also result in sensory impairment where one of the affected person's senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and spatial awareness) is no longer normal.[ clarification needed ] [28] [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precuneus</span> Region of the parietal lobe of the brain

In neuroanatomy, the precuneus is the portion of the superior parietal lobule on the medial surface of each brain hemisphere. It is located in front of the cuneus. The precuneus is bounded in front by the marginal branch of the cingulate sulcus, at the rear by the parieto-occipital sulcus, and underneath by the subparietal sulcus. It is involved with episodic memory, visuospatial processing, reflections upon self, and aspects of consciousness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway</span> Sensory spinal pathway

The dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway (DCML) (also known as the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway is the major sensory pathway of the central nervous system that conveys sensations of fine touch, vibration, two-point discrimination, and proprioception from the skin and joints. It transmits this information to the somatosensory cortex of the postcentral gyrus in the parietal lobe of the brain. The pathway receives information from sensory receptors throughout the body, and carries this in the gracile fasciculus and the cuneate fasciculus, tracts that make up the white matter dorsal columns of the spinal cord. At the level of the medulla oblongata, the fibers of the tracts decussate and are continued in the medial lemniscus, on to the thalamus and relayed from there through the internal capsule and transmitted to the somatosensory cortex. The name dorsal-column medial lemniscus comes from the two structures that carry the sensory information: the dorsal columns of the spinal cord, and the medial lemniscus in the brainstem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary somatosensory cortex</span> Region of the brain which processes touch

In neuroanatomy, the primary somatosensory cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus of the brain's parietal lobe, and is part of the somatosensory system. It was initially defined from surface stimulation studies of Wilder Penfield, and parallel surface potential studies of Bard, Woolsey, and Marshall. Although initially defined to be roughly the same as Brodmann areas 3, 1 and 2, more recent work by Kaas has suggested that for homogeny with other sensory fields only area 3 should be referred to as "primary somatosensory cortex", as it receives the bulk of the thalamocortical projections from the sensory input fields.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supramarginal gyrus</span> Gyrus of the parietal lobe of the brain

The supramarginal gyrus is a portion of the parietal lobe. This area of the brain is also known as Brodmann area 40 based on the brain map created by Korbinian Brodmann to define the structures in the cerebral cortex. It is probably involved with language perception and processing, and lesions in it may cause receptive aphasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angular gyrus</span> Gyrus of the parietal lobe of the brain

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superior parietal lobule</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inferior parietal lobule</span> Portion of the parietal lobe of the brain

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intraparietal sulcus</span> Sulcus on the lateral surface of the parietal lobe

The intraparietal sulcus (IPS) is located on the lateral surface of the parietal lobe, and consists of an oblique and a horizontal portion. The IPS contains a series of functionally distinct subregions that have been intensively investigated using both single cell neurophysiology in primates and human functional neuroimaging. Its principal functions are related to perceptual-motor coordination and visual attention, which allows for visually-guided pointing, grasping, and object manipulation that can produce a desired effect.

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References

  1. ↑ "PARIETAL | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary".
  2. ↑ "Parietal Lobe".
  3. ↑ The cortical homunculus should not be confused with the more general homunculus concept for a "spectator within the brain"; see work by psychologist David Marr for more information on this.
  4. 1 2 Schacter DL, Gilbert DL, Wegner DM (2009). Psychology (2nd ed.). New York (NY): Worth Publishers.
  5. ↑ Blakemore SJ, Firth U (2005). The learning brain: lessons for education. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell. ISBN   978-1-4051-2401-0.
  6. ↑ Penfield W, Rasmussen T (1950). The cerebral cortex of a man: A clinical study of localization of function. New York: Macmillan.
  7. ↑ Baldauf D, Cui H, Andersen RA (October 2008). "The posterior parietal cortex encodes in parallel both goals for double-reach sequences". The Journal of Neuroscience. 28 (40): 10081–9. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3423-08.2008. PMC   2744218 . PMID   18829966.
  8. ↑ Mishkin M, Ungerleider LG (September 1982). "Contribution of striate inputs to the visuospatial functions of parieto-preoccipital cortex in monkeys". Behavioural Brain Research. 6 (1): 57–77. doi:10.1016/0166-4328(82)90081-x. PMID   7126325. S2CID   33359587.
  9. ↑ Goodale MA, Milner AD (January 1992). "Separate visual pathways for perception and action". Trends in Neurosciences. 15 (1): 20–5. doi:10.1016/0166-2236(92)90344-8. PMID   1374953. S2CID   793980.
  10. 1 2 Fogassi L, Luppino G (December 2005). "Motor functions of the parietal lobe". Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 15 (6): 626–31. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2005.10.015. PMID   16271458. S2CID   21042078.
  11. ↑ Kusunoki M, Goldberg ME (March 2003). "The time course of perisaccadic receptive field shifts in the lateral intraparietal area of the monkey". Journal of Neurophysiology. 89 (3): 1519–27. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.580.120 . doi:10.1152/jn.00519.2002. PMID   12612015.
  12. ↑ Goldberg ME, Bisley JW, Powell KD, Gottlieb J (2006). "Chapter 10 Saccades, salience and attention: The role of the lateral intraparietal area in visual behavior". Visual Perception - Fundamentals of Awareness: Multi-Sensory Integration and High-Order Perception. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 155. pp. 157–75. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(06)55010-1. ISBN   9780444519276. PMC   3615538 . PMID   17027387.{{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  13. 1 2 3 Avillac M, Denève S, Olivier E, Pouget A, Duhamel JR (July 2005). "Reference frames for representing visual and tactile locations in parietal cortex". Nature Neuroscience. 8 (7): 941–9. doi:10.1038/nn1480. PMID   15951810. S2CID   5907587.
  14. ↑ Zhang T, Heuer HW, Britten KH (June 2004). "Parietal area VIP neuronal responses to heading stimuli are encoded in head-centered coordinates". Neuron. 42 (6): 993–1001. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.06.008 . PMID   15207243.
  15. ↑ Pesaran B, Nelson MJ, Andersen RA (July 2006). "Dorsal premotor neurons encode the relative position of the hand, eye, and goal during reach planning". Neuron. 51 (1): 125–34. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.025. PMC   3066049 . PMID   16815337.
  16. 1 2 Murata A, Gallese V, Luppino G, Kaseda M, Sakata H (May 2000). "Selectivity for the shape, size, and orientation of objects for grasping in neurons of monkey parietal area AIP". Journal of Neurophysiology. 83 (5): 2580–601. doi:10.1152/jn.2000.83.5.2580. PMID   10805659. S2CID   15140300.
  17. ↑ Murata A, Gallese V, Kaseda M, Sakata H (May 1996). "Parietal neurons related to memory-guided hand manipulation". Journal of Neurophysiology. 75 (5): 2180–6. doi:10.1152/jn.1996.75.5.2180. PMID   8734616.
  18. ↑ Culham JC, Valyear KF (April 2006). "Human parietal cortex in action". Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 16 (2): 205–12. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2006.03.005. PMID   16563735. S2CID   18561181.
  19. ↑ Medendorp WP, Goltz HC, Vilis T, Crawford JD (July 2003). "Gaze-centered updating of visual space in human parietal cortex". The Journal of Neuroscience. 23 (15): 6209–14. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-15-06209.2003. PMC   6740538 . PMID   12867504.
  20. 1 2 Dobbins IG, Jaeger A, Studer B, Simons JS (November 2012). "Use of explicit memory cues following parietal lobe lesions". Neuropsychologia. 50 (13): 2992–3003. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.07.037. PMC   3595063 . PMID   22975148.
  21. ↑ Berryhill ME, Phuong L, Picasso L, Cabeza R, Olson IR (December 2007). "Parietal lobe and episodic memory: bilateral damage causes impaired free recall of autobiographical memory". The Journal of Neuroscience. 27 (52): 14415–23. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4163-07.2007. PMC   6673454 . PMID   18160649.
  22. 1 2 Hower KH, Wixted J, Berryhill ME, Olson IR (April 2014). "Impaired perception of mnemonic oldness, but not mnemonic newness, after parietal lobe damage". Neuropsychologia. 56: 409–17. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.014. PMC   4075961 . PMID   24565734.
  23. ↑ Cabeza R, Ciaramelli E, Olson IR, Moscovitch M (August 2008). "The parietal cortex and episodic memory: an attentional account". Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 9 (8): 613–25. doi:10.1038/nrn2459. PMC   2692883 . PMID   18641668.
  24. ↑ Goldenberg G (May 2009). "Apraxia and the parietal lobes". Neuropsychologia. 47 (6): 1449–59. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.07.014. PMID   18692079. S2CID   41741275.
  25. ↑ Liepmann, 1900 [ clarification needed ]
  26. ↑ Khan AZ, Pisella L, Vighetto A, Cotton F, Luauté J, Boisson D, et al. (April 2005). "Optic ataxia errors depend on remapped, not viewed, target location". Nature Neuroscience. 8 (4): 418–20. doi:10.1038/nn1425. PMID   15768034. S2CID   24813342.
  27. ↑ Denny-Brown D, Banker BQ (March 1954). "Amorphosynthesis from left parietal lesion". A.M.A. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry. 71 (3): 302–13. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1954.02320390032003. PMID   13123592.
  28. ↑ Rahal S (28 November 2019). "How the Symptoms of Alzheimer's are Related to the Brain Lobe Affected". verywell.health. Archived from the original on 19 November 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  29. ↑ Yildiz M, Borgwardt SJ, Berger GE (2011). "Parietal lobes in schizophrenia: do they matter?". Schizophrenia Research and Treatment. 2011: 581686. doi: 10.1155/2011/581686 . PMC   3420742 . PMID   22937268.
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