Parietal Lobe: Functions, Anatomy And Curiosities

Feeling a caress or the intensity of a hug, dancing, knowing how to orient yourself in a new city or during a trip. Picking up an object and suddenly remembering a happy moment from our past… These and many other mechanisms associated with sensations, memories and a sense of direction are governed by this very important area of ​​our brain: the parietal lobe.

Neuroscientists continually surprise us with new discoveries about one of the five brain lobes. We can say that one of the most fascinating areas of the brain is the one located behind the frontal lobe. Its importance is mainly given by the fact that most of our sensory mechanisms derive from it.

David Eagleman, one of the most important neurologists of our time, reminds us in Incognita – one of his books – that none of us perceive things as they are. We see reality as our brain asks to see it. The parietal lobe is that area that allows the interaction between most of the information coming from the rest of the brain regions ; it is this area that organizes, that allows us to perceive and understand the reality that surrounds us. Let’s find out more.

What would you think if I told you that the world around you, with its vibrant colors, its texture, its sounds and its aromas, is all an illusion, a spectacle that your brain creates for you? If you could perceive reality as it is, you would be surprised by its colorless, odorless and tasteless silence. Outside your brain there is only energy and matter.

-David Eagleman, The Brain –

Parietal lobe: where is it located?

The brain is divided into several areas: the frontal, parietal, temporal occipital, parietal lobe and the insular cortex. The parietal lobe is one of the largest and is located near the top, right in the center of the cerebral cortex. In front of it, the frontal lobe is located, and a little further down are the occipital and temporal lobes.

In turn, it remains separated from the rest of the areas by the parieto-occipiatal sulcus (which separates it from the frontal lobe) and by the Sylvian fissure, which marks a border with the temporal lobe. On the other hand, it is interesting to remember that every area of ​​our brain is lateralized, that is, it is modeled on the right or left hemisphere.

Structure of the parietal lobe

The name of the parietal lobe comes from the Latin, and means “wall” or “wall”. It represents that intermediate structure present at the center of our brain, in which a symbolic border is established, a border through which an infinite number of information, mechanisms and connections pass.

To better understand the complexity, as well as the importance, of this area, let’s see below how it is structured:

• Postcentral gyrus or Brodmann area 3. Here is the primary somatosensory area, which is responsible for receiving and processing the information received from the senses.

• Posterior parietal cortex. This structure allows us to process all the stimuli we see and to coordinate movements.

• Superior parietal lobe. This structure allows us to orient ourselves in space and perform motor skills.

• Inferior parietal lobe. This region is one of the most interesting; has the task of communicating facial expressions and respective emotions. In addition, it is also essential for practicing mathematical operations and for the execution of language or body expression.

• Primary sensitive area. In this area of ​​the temporal lobe we process all the information associated with the skin: heat, cold, pain …

Functions of the parietal lobe

As we said, the parietal lobe participates in all those sensory and perceptive mechanisms that are so important in our daily life. Often, to give a really clear example of what this structure can do, the following situation is taken as an example: a person can trace a letter on our skin with a finger and we will be able to recognize it.

Something that seems so simple involves an infinite number of mechanisms: feeling the touch on the skin, recognizing the movements and associating this sensation and its trace with a letter of the alphabet. It is a fascinating phenomenon, but that is not all. Below, let’s see what other functions it allows us to perform:

Sensory functions

Thanks to the parietal lobe we can:

• Recognizing stimuli and knowing, for example, what they do, how they are, what memories they bring us back to, knowing what it feels like when we touch, smell, perceive … (for example, at the sight of a cat we can remember the cat we had, we know how entails, what it feels like to stroke it, etc.).

• This area allows us to know what position we are in, to recognize if something or someone is touching us, to feel cold, hot or pain. It also helps us to touch or recognize any part of our body without having to look in the mirror (essential, for example, when we get dressed).

Cognitive and analytical processes

Studies such as those carried out by the University of Psychology of Temple, in the United States, in 2008, reveal one of the latest discoveries: thanks to the progress of neuroimaging techniques, it has been observed that the parietal lobe is the seat of short memory. term and episodic memory.

These cognitive processes are indispensable for storing information in the short term to be reused later, in other contexts; but also for complex psychological elaborations, such as decision-making or mathematical calculations.

We also use this brain lobe to think about mathematical symbols, analyze sequences, enumerate, etc.

Lesions of the parietal lobe

People who have suffered traumatic or organic damage (such as a stroke, for example) of the parietal lobe manifest serious problems when it comes to recognizing their body, knowing how to orient themselves in a context, handling or grasping objects, drawing, washing. .. cases are very common both apraxias (failure to perform voluntary movements) and agnosias (inability to recognize objects).

Aphasias (or speech problems), as well as ataxias (coordination problems of the body, including vision problems) are also recurrent in the case of pathologies associated with temporal lobe lesions.

To conclude, we could define the parietal lobe as that area in which most of our sensory processes take shape. Our ability to move and interact with the environment and with the people around us depend on this structure.