The temporal lobe is the region where sound is processed and, not surprisingly, it is also a region where auditory language and speech comprehension systems are located. The auditory cortex is located on the upper banks of the temporal lobe and within the Sylvian fissure.
Published in Chapter:
Temporal Lobe Syndromes: An Overview
Arpit Parmar (All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India), G. S. Kaloiya (All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India), and Harsimarpreet Kaur (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India)
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-2860-0.ch008
Abstract
Temporal lobes are one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex and perform a complex array of interrelated functions. They play an important role in various day-to-day functioning. The common pathologies leading to isolated temporal lobe dysfunction are infarction (of the middle cerebral artery), hemorrhage, seizures, tumors, encephalitis, and traumatic brain injury. Temporal lobe syndromes include a wide array of various neurological (Kluver-Bucy syndrome, Geschwind Gastaut syndrome, etc.), elementary (e.g., vertiginous syndromes, hallucinations, etc.), neuropsychiatric (e.g., anxiety, agitation, aggression, etc.), and cognitive (e.g., Korsakoff amnesia, cortical deafness, etc.) disorders. The presentation depends on a multitude of factors including involvement of dominant or non-dominant lobe. Left temporal lobe involvement usually leads to various forms of aphasia while right side involvement leads to more covert and varied syndromes. In this chapter, the authors discuss the anatomy of the temporal lobe, its functional aspects, and various syndromes of temporal lobe dysfunction.