Table of Contents
What Is the Parietal Lobe?
Our brain is one of the most complex organs of our body. Though it is a single organ, our brain is divided into several parts based on its functions and peculiar natures. These areas are known as lobes. The parietal lobe is one of these lobes.
Definition: The parietal lobe is present in the top and back portion of our brain. This lobe is known as the main somatosensory center, which helps us to connect with the outside world.
Overview of Its Role in the Brain: The parietal lobe helps us to keep in touch with the environment. It processes information from touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. It also helps us understand the environment. Based on this information, it helps with body balance, coordination, and positioning. It also helps with reading, writing, and grasping.
Why It Is Important: Our brain needs to communicate with the outside world. Responses from the outside world are important and necessary, as they help shape our own. That is the main function of the temporals; they help shape our responses according to our environment.
Where Is the Parietal Lobe Located?
The parietal lobe is located at the top rear portion of our brain.
Position Within the Brain: It is located in the upper rear portion of our brain beneath the parietal bone. The central sulcus is located just in front of it, and the parieto-occipital sulcus is located just behind it. It is separated from the temporal lobe by the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure).
Relationship With Frontal, Temporal, and Occipital Lobes: The frontal lobe is anterior to the parietal lobe. The temporal lobe is inferior to the parietal lobe. The occipital lobe is posterior to the parietal lobe. These regions are separate but connected, and they work together in many ways. The frontal lobe (with the parietal lobe) is involved in motor planning and voluntary movement. The temporal lobe and parietal lobe are responsible for language, memory, and multisensory integration.
Left vs. Right Parietal Lobe: The parietal lobe occupies a large part of the cerebral hemisphere, which involves both sides of the brain. The right parietal lobe helps in spatial awareness, visual-spatial perception, and attention. It plays a major role in body orientation and navigation. The left parietal lobe helps in calculations, processing, and reasoning. The longitudinal fissure divides it into two sides.
What Is the Anatomy of the Parietal Lobe?
The function of the parietal lobe is closely related to its anatomical areas.
Primary Somatosensory Cortex: The most prominent ridge-like structure in the parietal lobe is the postcentral gyrus. The primary somatosensory cortex is located here. As this area contains Brodmann areas 3, 1, and 2, it controls touch, pain, and pressure.
Superior Parietal Lobule: This area contains Brodmann areas 5 and 7. This helps with hand-eye coordination and voluntary movement.
Inferior Parietal Lobule: This area is just below the intraparietal sulcus. This contains the supramarginal gyrus and the angular gyrus. This area is responsible for attention, memory, mathematical skills, and social skills.
Postcentral Gyrus: This ridge-like area is situated just behind the central sulcus. The primary somatosensory cortex is located here. This area receives sensory information like touch, pressure, pain, temperature, and vibration.
Angular Gyrus: This area is located at the back portion of the inferior parietal sulcus. This area is related to your reading, writing, and language comprehension.
Supramarginal Gyrus: As this area is related to Brodmann area 40, it is related to your empathy, emotional processing, and body awareness.
What Does the Parietal Lobe Do?
Processes Touch and Body Sensations: The parietal lobe detects somatic sensations from various parts of your body, like skin, joints, muscles, and tendons. These sensations include
Pressure.
Temperature.
Pain.
Vibration.
Helps You Understand Body Position (Proprioception): These sensations help in the awareness of our body. This also helps in the position and movement of different body parts.
Supports Spatial Awareness: Parietal lobe function for awareness helps to judge the relationship between objects in space. It is also important for understanding the position of an object, distances, and directions.
Integrates Information From Multiple Senses: The parietal lobe functions as a multisensory integration center. This gathers the information from various sources and processes it.
Plays a Role in Language Processing: It helps with language processing and understanding.
Helps With Reading, Writing, and Mathematics: The parietal lobe plays a big role in reading, writing, and solving mathematical problems.
What Happens if the Parietal Lobe Is Damaged?
Parietal lobe damage can be seen in the following issues:
Stroke: This is the most common cause of parietal lobe damage. A ruptured blood vessel can cut off the oxygen supply to that region and damage it.
Brain Injury: A traumatic brain injury due to trauma or an accident can damage this area.
Brain Tumors: Primary or traumatic brain tumors can damage this area.
Neurodegenerative Diseases: Nerve diseases like epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, or posterior cortical atrophy can damage the nerve cells over time. This can lead to gradual loss of function.
Possible symptoms you may notice due to such complications can be,
Numbness due to loss of pressure or touch sensations.
Difficulty recognizing objects or recognizing their distance or shape.
You will face difficulty in reading and writing.
You will lose your balance and struggle to stand or walk.
Damage to the right parietal lobe can lead to spatial neglect. This condition can cause difficulty shaving one side of the beard or applying makeup to one side of the face.
You may face apraxia, where you will have difficulty in doing common daily tasks.
How Do Doctors Evaluate the Parietal Lobe?
If you are facing any such issues after your stroke or accident, you must visit a doctor. These symptoms are,
Numbness in the body.
Difficulty in walking, running, or standing.
Weakness in one side of the body.
Difficulty in doing common daily tasks.
Problem in identifying objects.
Neurological Examination: Common neurological examinations include assessing sensation, reflexes, and balance.
Doctors use MRI and CT scans to identify brain lesions.
Cognitive Assessment: Doctors check your reading, writing, and perception skills for cognitive assessment.
Sensory Examination: To check your sensory functions, doctors check your pain, vibration, and touch sensations.
Conclusion:
The parietal lobe is one of the important areas of your brain. It is located in the top and back portion of your brain. This important area controls our sensations like touch, pain, and pressure. Apart from this, it helps with skills like reading, writing, and calculations. Also, it helps with calculations. However, issues like stroke or trauma can damage this area. If you notice any issues related to your body balance or sensations, it might be related to injury to your parietal lobe. You can ask a neurologist online in such cases.
Key Takeaways:
The parietal lobe is responsible for sensory functions and our learning abilities.
This region is located in the top and uppermost part of the brain.
Damage in the parietal region can be caused by issues like stroke, neurological diseases, and accidents.
Damage to the parietal region can lead to numbness, weakness, and loss of cognitive functions.
