Injuries to the parietal lobe would prevent us, for example, from getting dressed and even returning home. This area of ​​our brain is essential for interacting with everything around us.

To feel a touch or the intensity of a hug. To dance. Getting your bearings in a new city while traveling. Picking up an object and remembering a happy moment from the past ... These and many other types of processes related to sensations, memories and spatial orientation are governed by this important area of ​​our brain: the parietal lobe.

From time to time, neuroscientists surprise us with new discoveries about one of the five brain lobes. Speaking of regions, we could say that one of the most fascinating is the one located just behind the frontal lobe. Its importance lies, above all, in being the home of most of our perceptual processes.

David Eagleman, one of the most relevant neurologists today, explains in ‘Incognito - The Secret Lives of the Brain’, one of his books, that each of us doesn’t perceive things as they really are. We see reality as our brain wants it. The parietal lobe is that area of ​​integration where much of the information from the rest of the brain regions passes. It is he who organizes, who allows us to feel and understand the reality that surrounds us.

Let's see more below:

“What would happen if I told you that the world around you, with its rich colors, textures, sounds and smells, is an illusion, a spectacle that your brain creates for you? If you could perceive reality as it is, you would be surprised by its colorless, odorless and tasteless silence. Outside your brain, there is only energy and matter ”.
- David Eagleman, The Brain -



Parietal lobe, where is it located?
The brain is divided into different regions: frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal and insula lobe. The parietal lobe is one of the largest and lies near the top, right in the center of the cerebral cortex. In front of him is the frontal lobe and a little lower are the occipital and temporal lobes.

In turn, it is separated from the rest of the regions by the parieto-occipital sulcus (which separates it from the frontal lobe) and by the lateral sulcus, which establishes a limit with the temporal lobe. On the other hand, it is also interesting to remember that each area of ​​our brain is lateralized. That is, they are formed through a right hemisphere and a left hemisphere.

Structures of the parietal lobe
The wolf's name “parietal” is derived from Latin, which means “wall” or “wall”. It symbolizes this intermediate structure located in the center of our brain where a symbolic limit is established, a border where infinite information, processes and connections are crossed.

To better understand the complexity and relevance of this area, let's see how it is structured below.

Post-central rotation or Brodmann area 3. Here is located the main somatosensory area, responsible for receiving and processing information from the senses.
Posterior parietal cortex. This structure is essential to process all the stimuli we see and to coordinate all movements.
Upper parietal lobe. This structure is essential for spatial orientation and fine motor skills.
Lower parietal lobe. This region is one of the most interesting; is responsible for relating facial expressions to emotions. At the same time, it is also essential to perform mathematical operations and perform language or body expression.
Primary sensory area. In this area of ​​the temporal lobe, we process all information related to the skin: heat, cold, pain ...



Functions of the parietal lobe
As we have already said, the parietal lobe participates in all the sensory and perceptual processes that are so relevant in our daily life. Often, to give a very illustrative example of what this structure allows, a person can trace a letter on our skin with his finger and we are able to recognize it.

However, something so simple implies infinite processes: feeling the touch on our skin, recognizing the movements and associating that feeling and its trait with a letter of the alphabet. It is fascinating, but its functions do not end here. Let's see what else it allows us to do:

Sensory functions
Thanks to the parietal lobe, we can:

Recognizing stimuli and knowing, for example, what they do, how they are, what memories they bring us, knowing how we feel when we touch something, smell it, feel it ... For example, when we see a cat we remember those we had in the past, we know what kind of personality they have, what it feels like to caress them, etc.
It also allows us to know what position we are in, to recognize if something or someone is touching us, if we feel cold, hot or some kind of pain. This way, it makes it easier for us, for example, to touch or recognize any part of our body without having to look in a mirror (something essential when we dress).

Cognitive and analytical processes

Studies like the one carried out in 2008 at the University of Psychology of Tempe, in the United States, revealed one of the most recent discoveries: thanks to advances in neuroimaging techniques, it was possible to see that the parietal lobe is fundamental in short-term and working memory, as well as in episodic memory.



Lesions in the parietal lobe
People with traumatic or organic damage (due to a stroke, for example) in the parietal lobes show serious problems when it comes to recognizing their bodies, orienting themselves in space, manipulating or reaching objects, drawing, cleaning ... , apraxias (inability to perform movements voluntarily) and agnosias (inability to recognize objects) are very common.

Aphasias or language problems, as well as ataxias (problems with body coordination and even visual), are also very recurrent in these types of pathologies associated with lesions in the parietal lobe.

To conclude, we could define the parietal lobe as the home where a large part of our sensory processes live. Our ability to move, interact with the environment and the people around us depends on this structure.