Meaning & use
parietal cortex
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebiologymedical
The part of the brain's outer layer in the upper back region of the head, which combines touch, position, and spatial information.
Grammar: Usually used with the: damage to the parietal cortex.
Patterns
- the parietal cortex
- damage to the parietal cortex
Damage to the parietal cortex can make it hard to judge where objects are.
The parietal cortex helps us reach for a cup without looking.
Scans showed activity in the parietal cortex during the map-reading task.
Word forms
| plural | parietal cortices |
|---|
Common combinations
- posterior parietal cortex
- The posterior parietal cortex guides hand movements toward objects.
- damage to the parietal cortex
- Damage to the parietal cortex can cause neglect of one side of space.
- activity in the parietal cortex
- Activity in the parietal cortex rose during the puzzle.
- right parietal cortex
- The right parietal cortex is involved in attention to space.
- somatosensory cortex
- The parietal cortex includes the somatosensory area for touch.
Word family
Commonly confused: parietal cortex or frontal cortex?
parietal cortex vs frontal cortex
The frontal cortex sits at the front of the brain and deals with planning and decisions, while the parietal cortex sits behind it and handles spatial and sensory processing.
Practice
A stroke that injures the ______ cortex may leave a patient unable to judge where objects are in space.
Choose one answer.
The parietal cortex handles spatial awareness and touch. The occipital cortex mostly handles vision, and the others handle planning and hearing or memory.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “parietal cortex”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.