Angular gyrus

The angular gyrus is a region of the brain lying mainly in the anterolateral region of parietal lobe, that lies near the superior edge of the temporal lobe, and immediately posterior to the supramarginal gyrus. Its significance is in transferring visual information to Wernicke's area, in order to make meaning out of visually perceived words. It is also involved in a number of processes related to language, number processing and spatial cognition, memory retrieval, attention, and theory of mind. It is Brodmann area 39 of the human brain.There may be neurological disorders that disturb metaphor and synaesthesia. This has not been studied in detail but we have seen disturbances in the Bouba/Kiki effect (Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2001a) as well as with proverbs in patients with angular gyrus lesions. It would be interesting to see whether they have deficits in other types of synaesthetic metaphor, e.g. 'sharp cheese' or 'loud shirt'. There are also hints that patients with right hemisphere lesions show problems with metaphor. It is possible that their deficits are mainly with spatial metaphors, such as 'He stepped down as director'.Position of angular gyrus (shown in red).Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from above. Angular gyrus is shown in orange.Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere, viewed from the side. Angular gyrus is shown in orange.Lateral view of a human brain, main gyri labeled.Cerebrum. Lateral view.Deep dissection.Cerebrum. Lateral view.Deep dissection. The angular gyrus is a region of the brain lying mainly in the anterolateral region of parietal lobe, that lies near the superior edge of the temporal lobe, and immediately posterior to the supramarginal gyrus. Its significance is in transferring visual information to Wernicke's area, in order to make meaning out of visually perceived words. It is also involved in a number of processes related to language, number processing and spatial cognition, memory retrieval, attention, and theory of mind. It is Brodmann area 39 of the human brain. Left and right angular gyri are connected by the dorsal splenium and isthmus of the corpus callosum. Both gyri lie between the four lobes.