IMR Press / JIN / Volume 20 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin.2021.01.334
Open Access Review
The superior parietal lobule of primates: a sensory-motor hub for interaction with the environment
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1 Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
*Correspondence: patrizia.fattori@unibo.it (Patrizia Fattori)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2021, 20(1), 157–171; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin.2021.01.334
Submitted: 16 October 2020 | Revised: 22 December 2020 | Accepted: 22 February 2021 | Published: 30 March 2021
Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

The superior parietal lobule of the macaque monkey occupies the postero-medial part of the parietal lobe and plays a crucial role in the integration of different sources of information (from visual, motor and somatosensory brain regions) for the purpose of high-level cognitive functions, as perception for action. This region encompasses the intraparietal sulcus and the parieto-occipital sulcus and includes also the precuneate cortex in the mesial surface of the hemisphere. It hosts several areas extensively studied in the macaque: PE, PEip, PEci anteriorly and PEc, MIP, PGm and V6A posteriorly. Recently studies based on functional MRI have suggested putative human homologue of some of the areas of the macaque superior parietal lobule. Here we review the anatomical subdivision, the cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical connections of the macaque superior parietal lobule compared with their functional properties and the homology with human organization in physiological and lesioned situations. The knowledge of this part of the macaque brain could help in understanding pathological conditions that in humans affect the normal behaviour of arm-reaching actions and can inspire brain computer interfaces performing in more accurate ways the sensorimotor transformations needed to interact with the surrounding environment.

Keywords
Sensory information
Multisensory
Memory
Attention
Cerebral cortex
Neural networks
Connectivity
Funding
2017KZNZLN/Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna (Bando Internazionalizzazione)
952026/European Commission
H2020-MSCA-734227-PLATYPUS/European Commission
H2020-EIC-FETPROACT-2019-951910-MAIA/European Commission
Figures
Fig. 1.
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