Superior parietal lobule
Lobulus parietalis superior
The upper part of the parietal lobe behind the postcentral gyrus, above the intraparietal sulcus, used for spatial awareness and reaching.
At a glance
- English
- Superior parietal lobule
- Latin (TA2)
- Lobulus parietalis superior
- System
- Brain and spinal cord
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the superior parietal lobule
The superior parietal lobule is the region of the lateral parietal lobe that lies above the horizontal part of the intraparietal sulcus and behind the postcentral gyrus. In front its limit is the upper stretch of the postcentral sulcus, though it is usually joined to the postcentral gyrus by cortex above the upper end of that sulcus. Below, the intraparietal sulcus separates it from the inferior parietal lobule. Behind, it reaches the lateral end of the parieto-occipital sulcus, around which a curved convolution links it to the occipital lobe. Over the superior border it continues onto the medial surface as the precuneus.
Its cortex consists mainly of Brodmann areas 5 and 7. Area 5, at the front, receives touch and position signals from the somatosensory cortex; area 7, further back, receives strong visual input. Together they build a sense of where the body and its parts are and how they relate to objects nearby. The lobule is connected with the frontal lobe through the upper branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus and with the medial cortex through the cingulum.
This combination of vision and body sense makes the lobule central to spatial orientation and to guiding the hand towards targets. It is active in reaching and grasping, in shifting attention around space, and in working memory tasks that require information to be rearranged mentally, rather than simply held and repeated.
Damage to the lobule produces astereognosis, an inability to recognise objects by touch, and disturbances of the body image on the opposite side, with misreaching for objects seen in the opposite field (optic ataxia). Neglect of one side of space is more typical of lesions further down in the right inferior parietal lobule but can accompany superior parietal damage.
Function and supply
- Function
- Combines touch, position sense and vision to build a map of the body in space, guiding reaching, grasping and spatial attention.
- Blood supply
- Branches of the middle cerebral artery laterally and of the anterior cerebral artery near the upper border.
Anthromica
See the superior parietal lobule where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
