TEMPORARY LOBE: function, areas, characteristics and lesions

The temporal lobe is a part of the brain responsible for many functions related to hearing and language. It also performs important visual tasks, in addition to regulating emotions. Do you want to know every detail of the temporal lobe? Like, for example, what the left temporal lobe controls or what are the functions of the right temporal lobe. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about the functions, areas and characteristics of the temporal lobe and also on the lesions that can occur.

Index

1. What is the temporal lobe
2. Temporal lobe function
3. Temporal lobe areas
4. Temporal lobe injuries
5. Temporal lobe seizures
6. Temporal lobe epilepsy

The lobes are in the right and left hemispheres of the brain. So, each side of our brain has four lobes, they are: frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe and occipital lobe.

The temporal lobe is the second largest structure in the brain, the first is the frontal lobe. It occupies about a quarter of the cerebral cortex.

Another of the most important characteristics of the temporal lobe is that it establishes connections with limbic system. But what is the limbic system? It is a system that is responsible for emotions and social behaviors, it is directly related to the affective nature of sensory perceptions.

The temporal lobe is located on the sides of the head, behind the front. What is the function of the temporal lobe? Its fundamental skills are:

• Memory
• Recognition
• Affectivity

The temporal lobes are the brain regions in charge of receiving and regulating sensory stimuli, language, memory, and smell information.

They are also responsible for the ability that people have to recognize objects and faces, emotions, attention, part of learning, affection, reading and writing.

The temporal lobe is located in a region that also contains the primary hearing cortex of the brain. Therefore, he is able to handle auditory language and speech understanding systems.

The temporal lobe is one of the parts of the brain and it is divided into different areas. Next, we will see what the areas of the temporal lobe are and what each part of the temporal lobe controls:

Auditory cortex

• Work on the audition process
• Perceive sounds
• Performs encoding, decoding and interpretation of auditory information

Medial temporal

• Participate in memory and recognition
• Process information and help move from short-term to long-term memory
• The left hemisphere handles verbal information
• The right hemisphere stores visual patterns

Association area:

• Intervenes in perceptions, memory and feelings
• Participate in memory and learning
• Regulation of sexual behavior
• Maintenance of emotional stability

Supramarginal gyrus

• Participate in tactile recognition
• Participate in the language
• Ability to make the individual recognize the relief of letters using their fingers and associate them with sounds

Angular twist

• Allows the association of visual and auditory information
• It allows to produce a change in the type of data with which the brain works

Wernicke area

• Language processing and understanding
• Allows verbal communication between individuals

In the following article, you will find more information about Wernicke Area, its location and functions.

Cortex of the temporal sulcus

• Work on auditory and visual information

The lesions that can occur in the temporal lobe and that produce a series of symptoms related to its functions are:

• ACV
• Tumors
• Head injuries
• Damage to the cerebral cortex affecting the temporal lobe
• Specific neurological disorders

What happens if the temporal lobe is damaged? The consequences of such injuries are as follows:

• Deafness
• Hearing problems
• Auditory hallucinations
• Memory loss
• Personality changes
• Motor apraxia
• Response deficit to sensitive stimuli
• Wernicke's aphasia
• Learning Disorders
• Impairment in reading: in people with injuries in the angular gyrus, reading is usually affected, being very slow or non-existent.

We can mention the seizures of the temporal lobe, also named after focal seizures with impaired consciousness. It is so called because some people are still aware of what is happening, although during more intense seizures, they may appear conscious but are not.

The temporal lobes process emotions and are important for short-term memory, so some symptoms of a temporal lobe seizure may be related to these functions.

The causes of these seizures are still unknown, but studies indicate that they may be due to a anatomical defect or scar in the temporal lobe.

These temporal lobe seizures are treated with medication. And, for individuals who do not respond to medication, surgery may be an alternative.

We can also mention temporal lobe epilepsy that usually begins around 10 years of age to adolescence, but can develop at any age as long as there is an IStructural esion in the temporal lobe.

Focal seizures occur in temporal lobe epilepsy:

• If the individual remains conscious during the crisis, then the crisis is named after conscious focal crisis.
• Similarly, if the individual loses consciousness during the crisis, it is called focal crisis with altered consciousness. These crises are described as a special sensation or experience, including sensations of having previously lived the current situation, a smell, taste, sound or sight, an emotion, nausea, or a feeling of lifting in the abdomen. The individual with an alteration of consciousness in the crisis may stare or rub his hands.

Temporal lobe epilepsy can be caused by brain infections, injuries, and tumors, well how genetic factors or changes in brain structure. It can be diagnosed with a blood test, an EEG, or imaging techniques.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Temporal lobe: function, areas, characteristics and injuries, we recommend that you enter our category of Neuropsychology.

• Harry, M.D.T.C., (2017). Temporal lobe epilepsy. Recovered from: https://kidshealth.org/es/parents/temporal-lobe-epilepsy.html
• Pérez, J., Martí, A., Herrera, M., Bottan, J., Burneo, J. (2020). Temporal lobe plus epilepsy: review. Recovered from: https://www.neurologia.com/articulo/2020339