Division of the Cerebral Cortex into Lobes

The brain hemispheres are divided into:

Brain hemisphere and its division into lobes. Medial view( left.); lateral view (right.)


Frontal Lobe (located before the central sulcus) - Responsible for the elaboration of thinking, planning, programming individual needs and emotion.

Parietal Lobe (located behinf the central sulcus) - Responsible for the sensation of pain, touch, taste, temperature, pressure. Stimulation of certain regions of this lobe in conscious patients produce taste sensations. It is also related with mathematics and logics.

Temporal Lobe (located bellow the lateral fissure) - It is primarily related with auditory sense, allowing the recognition of specific tones and sound intensity. Tumor or accidental lesions in this area promote auditory damage or deafness. This area has also a role in memory and emotion processing.

Occipital Lobe (located behind the temporal and parietal lobes) - Responsible for the processing of visual information. Damage to this area results in partial or complete blindness.

Limbic Lobe (located around the junction of the cerebral hemisphere with the brain stem) - It is involved in the emotional and sexual aspects of behavior and in the processing of memory.



Brain hemisphere and its division into lobes

Contd. The External Architecture of the Brain
By: Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD
In: Brain & MInd

Center for Biomedical Informatics
State University of Campinas, Brazil


Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD

Copyright 1997 State University of Campinas