Parietal lobe: characteristics and functions

This part of the brain has several distinct functions. What are they?

The parietal lobelocated under the cranial bone that gives it its name and between the frontal lobe and the occipital lobe, is one of the most important brain structures in terms of both its size and the processes in which it is involved.

In fact, it is so crucial in successfully performing various mental processes that it is practically impossible to talk about this part of the brain as if it were a "simple" part of our nervous system or a structure that performs a single characteristic function.

In the following, we will see what the characteristics of the lobe of the brain are. we will see what are the characteristics of the parietal lobe and in which processes it participates..

What is the parietal lobe?

This part of the brain is an area of the cerebral cortex that is located just behind the frontal lobe: the two lobes are separated by the so-called central sulcus. However, the parietal lobe works in conjunction with the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe, the parietal lobe works in conjunction with the parietal lobe and the other lobes of the brainIt includes a large association area, which can be seen as a central one in which many types of information are mixed to generate a unit.

Although the parietal lobe specializes more in certain brain functions than in others, one of its main characteristics is that it integrates data from different sources. For example, it mixes data related to what is seen and those that tell us about what is heard, and makes a complete perceptual experience appear.

Similarly, in this area of the cerebral cortex there are many memories that, once "stored" by the hippocampus, move until they become fixed in the neural networks of this lobe. In the memories are integrated all the sensory information that comes to us from the outside world, but also the feelings and emotions linked to that piece of memory. In other words, both perceptual processes and the regulation of moods flow into the parietal lobe.

Thus, if one has to choose a single word to define the function of the parietal lobe, it should be "integration", it would have to be "integration", a concept that refersa concept that refers to the functions of many other parts of the brain.

Functions of this area of the brain

The functions carried out by the networks of neurons of the parietal lobe are many and varied.In summary, however, it can be said that it plays an important role especially in three kinds of processes: the integration and processing of sensory information coming from different "channels", the processing of symbolic information (which includes processes related to language and its use) and the processing of numerical information, which is basic to be able to count and perform mathematical operations.

Sensory integration

The parietal lobe includes one of the largest association areas of the brain, which means that information coming from the parietal lobe can be processed by the senses.This means that information from all areas of the body are combined in this area to result in information that is more than the sum of its parts. Therefore, the creation of abstract concepts occurs in part thanks to the parietal lobe, thanks to which we are able to generate, for example, the idea of what a dog is, with its associated movement, touch and smell.

But the parietal lobe contains not only data about the world around us and what lives in it, but also information about how we relate to our environment. but also information about how we relate to that world in real time.. For example, it is in the parietal lobe that data from the body's muscles come together, giving us an idea of our physical position and posture. The same is true for touch. Ultimately, the parietal lobe is responsible for somesthetic processing, i.e. the sensory ability to recognize bodily sensations.

In the same way, the parietal lobe works together with the frontal lobe to provide a feedback about how the voluntary movements we are performing are going, in order to be able to correct them immediately in the event that unforeseen events are detected.

As a curiosity, this function includes graphesthesia, which is the ability to recognize letters and words when an element touches the skin making the path of the shape of these.

2. Symbolic-analytical information processing

Another major function of the parietal lobe is to work with symbols and arithmetic.. The mathematical function is carried out together with the previous one, since it is from the analysis of what is sensorially perceived that a sequence of units can be imagined with which to work mathematically.

As the parietal lobe is a place where many mental processes are mixed, it makes possible the abstract thinking necessary to think in symbols.

In this sense, the location of the parietal lobe is very relevant in this regard, since it is in a central position where it can receive afferents from all parts of the central nervous system. it is in a central position in which it can receive afferents from all parts of the central nervous system. This allows it to integrate information coming from very varied places, thus participating in the appearance of the global experience that appears in our consciousness.

Lesions in the parietal lobe

As often happens in psychobiology, part of the functions of a brain structure tell us about the functions performed by these structures. In the case of the parietal lobe, these lesions speak about the multiplicity of tasks performed by the groups of neurons in this part of the brain. of this part of the brain.

Injury to the left parietal lobe

An injury to the parietal lobe of the left hemisphere can result in the appearance of Gerstmann's syndrome.The brain lesion is a condition that includes symptoms such as acalculia (acquired inability to perform calculations), confusion of left and right, and difficulty in writing (agraphia).

Right parietal lobe injury

The rest of the brain being in good health, a lesion in the right parietal lobe can produce hemineglectthat is, an inability to pay attention to stimuli present on the left side of the body while the person is unaware of this problem (a phenomenon known as anosognosia).

People with hemineglect one half of their body completely, meaning that they do not wash, dress or comb their hair, and they will act as if they are ignoring everything that happens on one side of their body.

Injury to both parietal lobes

When the parietal lobes of both the left and right hemispheres are injured, Balint syndrome can occur.. This is a severe neurological disorder that mainly affects perception and psychomotor ability, and for which there is no cure, so the treatment is based on the management of the symptoms they produce.

Among its symptoms is the inability to perceive images as a whole, i.e., one sees separate elements but does not know how far they are from oneself or from each other or the position they occupy. Similarly, difficulties appear in the coordination of eye movements (optic ataxia).

Concluding

The parietal lobe is characterized by the way in which it works in conjunction with many other areas of the brain, offering them a space in which to work.The parietal lobe is characterized by the way in which it works together with many other areas of the brain, offering them a space in which they can integrate their information streams.

This, of course, does not mean that in this part of the cerebral cortex we cannot find more or less specialized areas, and in fact it has been seen that several of them are especially involved in vision and in the execution and monitoring of movements in coordination with the posterior area of the frontal lobe.

However, by its very distributed nature, the brain functions from networks of distributed neurons. from networks of neurons scattered over many different locationsIn this sense, the parietal lobe is no exception. Therefore, these functions are very relative, and actually exist thanks to the joint work of several areas of the nervous system.

In conclusion, the parietal lobe works in coordination with other areas of the cerebral cortex to make the processes of perception, thought and movement functional. To do this, it processes part of the information coming from other regions of the brain, and sends the information to other networks of nerve cells so that they continue working on it.

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