The temporal lobe is involved in several important functions: 1) It processes auditory and visual information through distinct cortical areas. 2) The medial temporal lobe structures including the hippocampus and amygdala are critical for forming memories and regulating emotions. 3) Disorders of the temporal lobe can cause problems with memory, language processing, perception and personality changes depending on the area affected.

1. TEMPORAL LOBE:
ANATOMY &
FUNCTION

2. Lateral Surface of Temporal lobe

3. Inferior Surface of Temporal lobe

4. Superior Surface of Temporal lobe

6. Boundaries of Temporal lobe- Lateral surface

7. Boundaries of Temporal lobe- Medial surface

8. Area 52 – Parainsular area
Junction of
temporal lobe and
insula.

9. Area 41- Auditory cortex
Auditory - Basic Processing

10. Area 42- Auditory cortex
Auditory - Basic Processing

11. Area 22 - Superior temporal gyrus, of which the
Caudal part of
this area
contains the
Wernicke's
area
Complex
Sound
processing

12. Area 21 – Middle temporal gyrus
Auditory- Complex
Sound Processing

13. Area 20- Inferior temporal gyrus
Visual – Visual
Integration

14. Area 38 – Temporopolar area
Most rostral part
of the Superior
and Middle
temporal gyri.
Recognition of
familiar voices

15. Area 39- Angular Gyrus
 Complex language
functions (i.e.
reading, writing and
interpretation of what
is written)
 Arithmetic and
spatial cognition.
 Distinguishing left
from right by
integrating the
conceptual
understanding of the
language term "left"
or "right" with its
location in space.

16. Area 27 – Piriform cortex
Olfaction

17. Area 34 – Dorsal entorhinal cortex
 The entorhinal area is the
main interface between
the hippocampus and
neocortex and involved
in memory, navigation
and the perception of
time.
 Gateway.

18. Area 28 – Ventral entorhinal cortex

19. Area 35 – Perirhinal cortex (in the rhinal sulcus)
 Interconnecting the
hippocampal
formation
 Object recognition
and in storing
information about
objects

20. Area 36 – Ectorhinal area
Encoding of memory

23. Papez Circuit
Control of emotional expression
Memory storage

24. Hippocampus
Mammillary
bodies
Mammillothalamic
tract
Anterior
Thalamic Nuclei
Cingulate Gyrus

25. Cingulate Gyrus
Parahippocampal
gyrus

33. Functions of Temporal lobe
Dominant Temporal lobe:-
Auditory perception
Language and Verbal memory
Smell
Non- Dominant Temporal lobe:-
Non verbal memory

34.  Memory
 Medial temporal lobe – Short term/ Episodic memory
 Lateral temporal lobe – Long term – Semantic memory.
 Hippocampus - formation of long-term memory, modulated by the amygdala
 Auditory
 Rt side- Melody, pitch and sound intensity.
 Lt side- Generation and understanding words.
 Unilateral destruction of Auditory cortex- Difficulty in sound localization.
 Bilateral destruction ---- decrease in auditory acuity / Cortical deafness.
 Visual
 Interpret the meaning of visual stimuli and establish object recognition.
 The ventral part of the temporal cortices --- involved in high-level visual processing of complex stimuli
 Such as faces (fusiform gyrus) and scenes (parahippocampal gyrus).
 Anterior parts of the ventral stream for visual processing are involved in object perception and recognition.
 Language recognition
 Processing of semantics in both language and vision.
 Language comprehension.
 Identification and categorization of stimuli.
 Matching auditory and visual stimuli.
 Emotional functions.

35.  Affect and Personality
 Personality in Temporal lobe lesions:-
 Overemphasizing trivial and petty details.
 Egocentricity (Preoccupation with one’s own internal work).
 Perseveration.
 Paranoia.
 Pedantic speech.
 Preoccupation with religion.
 Proneness to aggression.
 Vestibular functions:-
 Some fibres from vestibular input are relayed in STG.
 Lesions– episodic vertigo.
 Biological motion perception.
 Refers to where an individual ascribes goals and mental states to another's actions or when an individual
imagines, executes, or observes actions.
 Area- STS

36. Symptoms of Temporal lobe Lesion
 Disturbance of Auditory sensation and perception.
 Disorder of Music perception.
 Disorder of Visual perception.
 Disorder of time perception.
 Disturbance in selection of visual and sensory input.
 Impaired organization and categorization of sensory input.
 Inability to use contextual information.
 Impaired long term memory.
 Altered personality and affective behavior.
 Altered sexual behavior.

37. Inferomedial Aspect ( Amygdala & Hippocampus)
1. Amnesia
o Right – Visuaspatial
o Left – Verbal involvement
Anterior Tip (Bilateral lesion)
 Kluver- Bucy syndrome
 Visual agnosia
 Oral exploratory behavior
 Loss of fear.
 Hypersexuality

38. Localization of Temporal lobe Epilepsy
Automatism Location
Oral automatism Medial temporal lobe
Postictal cough Temporal lobe
Postictal nose wiping Ipsilateral temporal lobe
Ictal spitting Temporal lobe
Whistling Temporal lobe
Autonomic Location
Ictal Vomiting Right Temporal lobe
Ictal urination Right Temporal lobe
Piloerection Left temporal lobe
Speech Location
Ictal speech arrest Temporal lobe ( Dominant)
Ictal speech preservation Temporal lobe ( non dominant)
Postictal aphasia Temporal lobe ( Dominant)

39. Test for Evaluation of Temporal lobe function
 In MMSE:-
 Orientation to Time place person ( Mainly by IPL)
 Recall
 Language (Naming, Repetition, 3 step command, Comprehension)
 Other parts of the brain also involved in executing these tests .
 In Lobar function test
 Recent memory
 Remote memory
 Visual memory

40. Other tests
 Rey Complex figure test – Non verbal memory --- Right temporal lobe
For this test, a patient is asked to copy a
complex figure to the best of their ability.
Once completed; 45 minutes later the
subject is asked to reproduce the same
figure only this time just from their memory.

41. Other tests
 Dichotic listening test:-
 Assess auditory processing
capacity
 Auditory information is
presented to both ears of
the pt, and is instructed
to immediately repeat the
auditory input from any
one ear.

42. Token test
Language
comprehension
For this test, the
examiner will place out
20 token all of which vary
in color and size.
The examiner will then
instruct the patient to
touch certain tokens.

43. Mooney Closure Test
 Visual processing capacity
 Right Temporoparietal
junction --- Ventral visual
stream.
 The examiner presents to
the patient abstract
pictures.
 The pictures clearly
represent a face or object
but are only marginally
abstract.

44. References
 Localization in Clinical Neurology, Paul W. Brazis 7th edi (SAE).
 Bradley 8th edition.
 J. A. Kiernan, "Anatomy of the Temporal Lobe", Epilepsy Research and Treatment,
vol. 2012, Article ID 176157, 12 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/176157
 Patel A, Biso GMNR, Fowler JB. Neuroanatomy, Temporal Lobe. [Updated 2021 Jul
31].
 Bajada CJ, Haroon HA, Azadbakht H, Parker GJM, Lambon Ralph MA, Cloutman LL.
The tract terminations in the temporal lobe: Their location and associated
functions. Cortex. 2017 Dec;97:277-290.