Superior parietal lobule

{{Short description|Part of the brain}}

{{Infobox brain

| Name = Superior parietal lobule

| Latin = lobulus parietalis superior

| Image = Gray726 superior parietal lobule.png

| Caption = Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. (Superior parietal lobule is shown in orange.)

| Image2 = Gray725 superior parietal lobule.png

| Caption2 = Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from above. (Superior parietal lobule is shown in orange.)

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The superior parietal lobule is bounded in front by the upper part of the postcentral sulcus, but is usually connected with the postcentral gyrus 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 parieto-occipital sulcus, around the end of which it is joined to the occipital lobe by a curved gyrus, the arcus parietooccipitalis. Below, it is separated from the inferior parietal lobule by the horizontal portion of the intraparietal sulcus.

The superior parietal lobule is involved with spatial orientation,{{cite web | vauthors = Williams SM | url = http://www.sylvius.com/index/s/superior_parietal_lobule.html | work = Sylvius Project | publisher = Pyramis Studios, Inc. | title = Superior parietal lobe | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090626060215/http://www.sylvius.com/index/s/superior_parietal_lobule.html | archive-date = 26 June 2009 }} and receives a great deal of visual input as well as sensory input from one's hand.{{cite journal | vauthors = Gamberini M, Passarelli L, Filippini M, Fattori P, Galletti C | title = Vision for action: thalamic and cortical inputs to the macaque superior parietal lobule | journal = Brain Structure & Function | volume = 226 | issue = 9 | pages = 2951–2966 | date = December 2021 | pmid = 34524542 | pmc = 8541979 | doi = 10.1007/s00429-021-02377-7 }} In addition to spatial cognition and visual perception, it has also been associated with reasoning, working memory, and attention.{{cite journal | vauthors = Wang J, Yang Y, Fan L, Xu J, Li C, Liu Y, Fox PT, Eickhoff SB, Yu C, Jiang T | display-authors = 6 | title = Convergent functional architecture of the superior parietal lobule unraveled with multimodal neuroimaging approaches | journal = Human Brain Mapping | volume = 36 | issue = 1 | pages = 238–257 | date = January 2015 | pmid = 25181023 | pmc = 4268275 | doi = 10.1002/hbm.22626 }}

It is also involved with other functions{{Vague|reason=Which functions? Not clear enough to verify.|date=July 2023}} of the parietal lobe 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 and other newly described superior parietal white matter connections.{{cite journal | vauthors = Kamali A, Sair HI, Radmanesh A, Hasan KM | title = Decoding the superior parietal lobule connections of the superior longitudinal fasciculus/arcuate fasciculus in the human brain | journal = Neuroscience | volume = 277 | issue = | pages = 577–583 | date = September 2014 | pmid = 25086308 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.07.035 | s2cid = 24271580 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Kamali A, Flanders AE, Brody J, Hunter JV, Hasan KM | title = Tracing superior longitudinal fasciculus connectivity in the human brain using high resolution diffusion tensor tractography | journal = Brain Structure & Function | volume = 219 | issue = 1 | pages = 269–281 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 23288254 | pmc = 3633629 | doi = 10.1007/s00429-012-0498-y }}

Damage to the superior parietal lobule can cause contralateral astereognosis and hemispatial neglect. 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.{{cite journal | vauthors = Koenigs M, Barbey AK, Postle BR, Grafman J | title = Superior parietal cortex is critical for the manipulation of information in working memory | journal = The Journal of Neuroscience | volume = 29 | issue = 47 | pages = 14980–14986 | date = November 2009 | pmid = 19940193 | pmc = 2799248 | doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3706-09.2009 }}