The parietal lobe is located superior to the occipital lobe and posterior to the frontal lobe. It controls somatosensory processing including touch, pain, and body awareness. The parietal lobe also enables spatial reasoning and coordinates speech production and comprehension through Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Damage can cause syndromes like Gerstmann's or neglect by disrupting functions like writing, math, language, and object recognition.