Primary Sensory Areas

The primary sensory areas are the main cerebral areas that receive sensory information from thalamic nerve projections.

Though some areas of the human brain that receive primary sensory information remain poorly defined, each of the five sensory modalities has been recognized to relate to specific groups of brain cells that begin to categorize and integrate sensory information.

Somatosensory system: The primary somatosensory cortex (SI) is across the central sulcus and behind the primary motor cortex configured to generally correspond with the arrangement of nearby motor cells related to specific body parts. The area includes gray matter along the central gyrus and its extension into the postcentral gyrus.
Taste: The primary gustatory area is near the face representation within the postcentral gyrus. It starts at about the most lateral point on the gyrus and continues into the insular cortex where the postcentral gyrus folds over the operculum (Latin: eyelid or lid) of the gyrus at the lateral sulcus.
Olfaction: Olfactory cortex located in the uncus which is found along the ventral surface of the temporal lobe. Olfaction is the only sensory system that is not routed through the thalamus.
Vision: The visual area known as V1, striate cortex, or (primary visual cortex, Brodmann area 17) is located on the calcarine sulcus deep within the inside folds of the occipital lobe.
Hearing: The primary auditory cortex is located on the transverse gyri that lie on the back of the superior temporal convolution of the temporal lobes.

Human brain: forebrain (cerebrum, cerebral cortex, cerebral hemispheres, grey matter) (TA A14.1.09.002–240, 301–320, GA 9.818–826)

Frontal lobe

Superolateral

Prefrontal

Superior frontal gyrus
- 4l
- 6l
- 8l
Middle frontal gyrus
- 9l
- 10l
- 46

Inferior frontal gyrus: 11l
47-Pars orbitalis
Broca's area
- 44-Pars opercularis
- 45-Pars triangularis

Superior frontal sulcus
Inferior frontal sulcus

Precentral

Precentral gyrus
Precentral sulcus

Medial/inferior

Prefrontal

Superior frontal gyrus
- 4m
- 6m
Medial frontal gyrus
- 8m
- 9m

Paraterminal gyrus/Paraolfactory area
- 12
Straight gyrus
- 11m
Orbital gyri/Orbitofrontal cortex
- 10m
- 11m
- 12
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
- 10m
Subcallosal area
- 25

Olfactory sulcus
Orbital sulci

Precentral

Paracentral lobule
- 4
Paracentral sulcus

Both

Primary motor cortex
- 4
Premotor cortex
- 6
Supplementary motor area
- 6
Frontal eye fields
- 8

Parietal lobe

Superolateral	Superior parietal lobule 5l 7l Inferior parietal lobule 40-Supramarginal gyrus 39-Angular gyrus Parietal operculum 43 Intraparietal sulcus

Medial/inferior	Paracentral lobule 1m 2m 3m 5m Precuneus 7m Marginal sulcus

Both	Postcentral gyrus/primary somatosensory cortex 1 2 3 Secondary somatosensory cortex 5 Posterior parietal cortex 7

Occipital lobe

Superolateral

Occipital pole of cerebrum
Lateral occipital gyrus
- 18
- 19
Lunate sulcus
Transverse occipital sulcus

Medial/inferior

Primary visual cortex
- 17
Cuneus
Lingual gyrus

Calcarine fissure

Temporal lobe

Superolateral

Transverse temporal gyrus/Primary auditory cortex
- 41
- 42
Superior temporal gyrus
- 38
- 22/Wernicke's area
Middle temporal gyrus
- 21
Inferior temporal gyrus
- 20

Superior temporal sulcus
Inferior temporal sulcus

Medial/inferior

Fusiform gyrus
- 37
Medial temporal lobe
- 27
- 28
- 34
- 35
- 36

Inferior temporal sulcus

Interlobar
sulci/fissures

Superolateral	Central (frontal+parietal) Lateral (frontal+parietal+temporal) Parieto-occipital Preoccipital notch

Medial/inferior	Medial longitudinal Cingulate (frontal+cingulate) Collateral (temporal+occipital) Callosal sulcus

Limbic lobe

Parahippocampal gyrus	anterior Entorhinal cortex Perirhinal cortex Posterior parahippocampal gyrus Prepyriform area

Cingulate cortex/gyrus	Subgenual area 25 Anterior cingulate 24 32 33 Posterior cingulate 23 31 Isthmus of cingulate gyrus: Retrosplenial cortex 26 29 30

Hippocampal formation	Hippocampal sulcus Fimbria of hippocampus Dentate gyrus Rhinal sulcus

Other	Supracallosal gyrus Uncus

Insular lobe

Long gyrus of insula
Short gyri of insula
Circular sulcus of insula

General

Operculum
Poles of cerebral hemispheres

Some categorizations are approximations, and some Brodmann areas span gyri.

M: CNS

anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp

noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D)

Famous quotes containing the words primary, sensory and/or areas:

“Anyone who has obeyed nature by transmitting a piece of gossip experiences the explosive relief that accompanies the satisfying of a primary need.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)

“Ours is a culture based on excess, on overproduction; the result is a steady loss of sharpness in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life—its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness—conjoin to dull our sensory faculties.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)

“... two great areas of deafness existed in the South: White Southerners had no ears to hear that which threatened their Dream. And colored Southerners had none to hear that which could reduce their anger.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 16 (1962)