SLP528 Neurology

Lobe Functions:

 

Frontal lobe is important for fluent and meaningful speech production, as well as higher mental processes and executive functions such as thinking, planning, reasoning & logic skills, self monitoring, and making decisions. The motor strip, or pre-central gyrus, is located in the frontal lobe. The primary motor cortex processes initiation of movement, where the secondary or association cortices control the execution of motor activity. Personality is also developed in the frontal lobe of the brain. The most significant landmark of the frontal lobe in charge of speech production is Broca's area

 

Real Life Situation- In the mid 1800s, Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, survived an accident where a large iron pole was driven into his head, specifically into the prefrontal cortex of the frontal lobe. After the incident, Gage's personality was said to have changed drastically. His contractors claimed that the once kind and hard working Gage had changed after the accident to a lazy and rude man; his friends said that he was no longer Gage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parietal lobe has to do with quick processing of sensory information within the brain. The post-central gyrus, or sensory strip, is located in this lobe (adjacent to the motor strip). The parietal lobe is a multimodal region where information such as taste, temperature and touch are integrated, or processed. The primary somato-sensory cortex works together with the sensory association areas in order to process all sensory stimuli. Humans would not be able to to feel sensations of touch, if the parietal lobe was damaged. The supramarginal gyrus (writing) and the angular gyrus (reading) are also housed in the parietal lobe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temporal lobe processes auditory information entering through the ears. It is essential for comprehension, or understanding meaningful speech. The auditory stimuli are sent to the primary auditory cortex of the superior temporal lobe, also known as Heschl's gyrus. The primary auditory cortex processes the basic properties of sound, such as frequency, intensity, and duration; whereas the association auditory cortices process more complex information, such as if the sound is a speech signal or not, phoneme, syllable and word processing. Some secondary association areas of the auditory cortex are Wernicke's area, associated with comprehension, and the insular cortex, which is tucked underneath the temporal lobe and helps process connective speech. If the temporal lobe were damaged, there would be deficits in comprehension of speech. This lobe is special because it makes sense of the all the different sounds and frequencies being transmitted from the sensory receptors of the ears (tonotopicity).  Another important region of the temporal lobe (and frontal) is the perisylvian area, having a lot to do with language

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occipital lobe processes visual information coming in from the eyes. Rapidly processes and makes sense of visual stimuli, and project this information to the primary visual cortex, which processes light and color. The association cortices involved in visual processing are in charge of facial and object recognition, as well as more complex features. If the occipital lobe was damaged, it would result in visual confusion, or even visual neglect in some cases