What is the Difference Between Parietal Occipital and Temporal Lobe

The key difference between parietal occipital and temporal lobe is the type of information they are responsible for the processing. The parietal lobe is responsible for integrating sensory information such as touch, temperature, pressure, and pain, etc. Meanwhile, the occipital lobe is mainly responsible for visual processing, and the temporal lobe is responsible for processing sensory information, especially for hearing, recognising language, and forming memories.

The brain is one of the two components of the central nervous system. It is one of the most critical and important organs in the human body. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of the brain. There are two cerebral hemispheres. Each cerebral hemisphere consists of four lobes. These four lobes are frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. Each lobe has bumps (gyri) and grooves (sulci). These gyri and sulci increase the surface area of the brain. In each lobe of the brain, there are special areas that coordinate and process information. Moreover, each lobe is responsible for processing different types of information, such as sensory, auditory and visual etc., of the body.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Parietal Lobe
3. What is Occipital Lobe
4. What is Temporal Lobe
5. Similarities – Parietal Occipital and Temporal Lobe
6. Parietal vs Occipital vs Temporal Lobe in Tabular Form
7. Summary – Parietal vs Occipital vs Temporal Lobe

What is Parietal Lobe?

The parietal lobe is one of the four lobes of the cerebral cortex. It is located immediately behind the frontal lobe. The parietal lobe is mainly responsible for processing sensory information including, temperature, touch, and pain.

In order to process sensory information, the parietal lobe consists of the somatosensory cortex. Moreover, a part of the visual system is also located in the parietal lobe. Furthermore, several areas of the parietal lobe are important for language and visuospatial processing

What is Occipital Lobe?

The occipital lobe is another lobe of the brain. It is located at the back of the brain. The occipital lobe is responsible for visual processing. Thus, this lobe allows us to sense the information coming from our eyes. In order to interpret visual information, the occipital lobe has the primary visual cortex. Therefore, the occipital cortex works as the visual processing centre of the brain.

Several areas of the occipital lobe carry out different visual tasks, including visuospatial processing, colour discrimination, and motion perception.

What is Temporal Lobe?

The temporal lobe is located on the side of the head. The temporal lobe is responsible for processing short term and long term memories. Hippocampus is situated in the temporal lobe in order to process memories.

The temporal lobe is responsible for processing auditory information. The auditory cortex is located in the temporal lobe. Wernicke’s area is located in the temporal lobe. It is responsible for speech comprehension. Hence, the temporal lobe is the area of the brain that helps us to understand the sound such as musical notes and speech. Not only that, the temporal lobe helps us to manage emotions as well.

What are the Similarities Between Parietal Occipital and Temporal Lobe?

• The parietal, occipital, and temporal lobe are three of the four lobes of the brain.
• Each cerebral cortex hemisphere has these lobes.
• They consist of gyri and sulci.

What is the Difference Between Parietal Occipital and Temporal Lobe?

The parietal lobe is the lobe of the brain that controls perception and sensation, while the occipital lobe is the lobe that interprets vision, distance, depth, colour, and facial recognition. On the other hand, the temporal lobe is the lobe that controls language comprehension, hearing, and memory. So, this is the key difference between parietal occipital and temporal lobe. Moreover, the parietal lobe is located immediately behind the frontal lobe, while the occipital lobe is located at the very back of the brain, and the temporal lobe is located on the side of the head.

The below infographic lists the differences between parietal occipital and temporal lobe in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Parietal vs Occipital vs Temporal Lobe

The cerebral cortex is the outermost portion of the brain. It has four lobes. Those four lobes are known as the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe. Each lobe fulfils different functions. The frontal lobe is responsible for reasoning, motor skills, higher-level cognition, and expressive language. The parietal lobe is responsible for processing sensory information such as pressure, touch, and pain. The temporal lobe is responsible for interpreting sounds and language. The occipital lobe is responsible for visual processing. Thus, this is the summary of the difference between parietal occipital and temporal lobe.

Reference:

1. “Lobes of the Brain.” Queensland Brain Institute, 17 July 2018,.
2. Bui, Toai. “Neuroanatomy, Cerebral Hemisphere.” StatPearls, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 31 July 2021.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Parietal lobe – superior view” By Anatomography – BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 2.1 jp) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Occipital lobe – posterior view” By Anatomography – BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 2.1 jp) via Commons Wikimedia
3. “Temporal lobe – lateral view” By Anatomography – BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 2.1 jp) via Commons Wikimedia