The superior parietal lobule is bounded in front by the upper part of the

postcentral sulcus The postcentral sulcus of the parietal lobe lies parallel to, and behind, the central sulcus in the human brain. (A ''sulcus'' is one of the prominent grooves on the surface of the brain.) The postcentral sulcus divides the postcentral gyrus from ...

, but is usually connected with the

postcentral gyrus In neuroanatomy, the postcentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus in the lateral parietal lobe of the human brain. It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the somatosensory system, sense of touch. Lik ...

above the end of the sulcus. The superior parietal lobule contains Brodmann's areas 5 and 7. Behind it is the lateral part of the parietooccipital fissure, around the end of which it is joined to the

occipital lobe The occipital lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The name derives from its position at the back of the head, from the Latin ''ob'', "behind", and ''caput'', "head". The occipital lobe is the vi ...

by a curved

gyrus In neuroanatomy, a gyrus (pl. gyri) is a ridge on the cerebral cortex. It is generally surrounded by one or more sulci (depressions or furrows; sg. ''sulcus''). Gyri and sulci create the folded appearance of the brain in humans and other ma ...

, the

arcus parietooccipitalis Arcus may refer to: Businesses and organizations *ARCUS, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, supporting Arctic policy in the U.S. *Arcus AS, a Norwegian producer of liquor * Arcus Co., a Bulgarian firearm manufacturer *Arcus Fou ...

. Below, it is separated from the

inferior parietal lobule The inferior parietal lobule (subparietal district) lies below the horizontal portion of the intraparietal sulcus, and behind the lower part of the postcentral sulcus. Also known as Geschwind's territory after Norman Geschwind, an American neurolo ...

by the horizontal portion of the

intraparietal sulcus 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 usin ...

. The superior parietal lobule is involved with spatial orientation, and receives a great deal of visual input as well as sensory input from one's hand.Brainmind.com "Parietal Area 5"
/ref> It is also involved with other functions of the

parietal lobe 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. The parietal lobe integrates sensory informa ...

in general. There are major white matter pathway connections with the superior parietal lobule such as the Cingulum, SLF I, superior parietal lobule connections of the

Medial longitudinal fasciculus The medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) is an area of crossed over tracts, on each side of the brainstem. These bundles of axons are situated near the midline of the brainstem. They are made up of both ascending and descending fibers that ari ...

and other newly described superior parietal white matter connections. Damage to the superior parietal lobule can cause contralateral

astereognosis Astereognosis (or tactile agnosia if only one hand is affected) is the inability to identify an object by active touch of the hands without other sensory input, such as visual or sensory information. An individual with astereognosis is unable to i ...

and

hemispatial neglect Hemispatial neglect is a neuropsychological condition in which, after damage to one hemisphere of the brain (e.g. after a stroke), a deficit in attention and awareness towards the side of space opposite brain damage (contralesional space) is obser ...

. It is also associated with deficits on tests involving the manipulation and rearrangement of information in working memory, but not on working memory tests requiring only rehearsal and retrieval processes.

Additional images

File:Superior parietal lobule animation small.gif, Position of superior parietal lobule (shown in red). File:Human brain superior-lateral view-with marked Superior parietal lobule.JPG, Superior parietal lobule (shown in red). File:ParietCapts lateral.png, Superior parietal lobule is labeled at upper left. File:Gray1197.png, Drawing to illustrate the relations of the brain to the skull. File:Gehirn, lateral - Hauptgyri beschriftet.svg, Lateral view of a human brain, main gyri labeled. File:Slide2HAN.JPG, Cerebrum. Lateral view. Deep dissection. File:Slide3HAN.JPG, Cerebrum. Lateral view. Deep dissection. File:Slide4HAN.JPG, Cerebrum. Lateral view. Deep dissection. File:Superior parietal lobule coronal sections.gif, Superior parietal lobule highlighted in green on coronal T1 MRI images File:Superior parietal lobule sagittal sections.gif, Superior parietal lobule highlighted in green on sagittal T1 MRI images File:Superior parietal lobule transversal sections.gif, Superior parietal lobule highlighted in green on transversal T1 MRI images

References

Parietal lobe Gyri {{Neuroanatomy-stub