Postcentral sulcus

Postcentral Sulcus

The Postcentral Sulcus is a sulcus, or groove, in the human brain, located in the parietal lobe. It runs parallel to, and behind, the central sulcus. The postcentral sulcus divides the postcentral gyrus, which is primarily responsible for processing somatosensory information, from the rest of the parietal lobe.

Anatomy

The postcentral sulcus is a prominent feature of the lateral surface of the brain. It is situated posterior to the central sulcus, from which it is separated by the postcentral gyrus. The postcentral sulcus extends from the lateral sulcus (also known as the Sylvian fissure) upwards towards the superior sagittal sulcus, although it does not usually reach this sulcus.

Function

The postcentral sulcus, along with the precentral sulcus, forms the boundaries of the postcentral gyrus. This gyrus is the main location of the primary somatosensory cortex, which is responsible for processing somatosensory information from the body. This includes sensations such as touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception (the sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body).

Clinical significance

Damage to the area of the brain around the postcentral sulcus can lead to a loss of somatosensory function, resulting in conditions such as astereognosis (the inability to identify objects by touch) and hemispatial neglect (the inability to attend to or respond to stimuli in the opposite side of space to the lesion).

See also

• Central sulcus
• Precentral sulcus
• Sulcus (neuroanatomy)
• Gyrus
• Somatosensory system