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Insight into the precuneus: a novel seizure semiology in a child with epilepsy arising from the right posterior precuneus Volume 17, issue 3, September 2015

TEST YOURSELF

(1) What is the anatomical location of the precuneus?


(2) What are the presumed functions of the precuneus?


(3) What are the functional subdivisions of the precuneus?

 

 

 

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Answers

(1) The precuneus is located in the dorsal portion of the posteromedial cortex, between the somatosensory and visual cortex, superior to the posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortex. The precuneus is located immediately in front of the triangular-shaped convolution of the cuneus, on the medial surface of the occipital lobe.
The division between the precuneus and the primary sensory and motor areas, the anterior margin of the precuneus, is marked by the ramus marginalis, the upward end of the cingulate sulcus. The precuneus is bounded posteriorly by the medial portion of the parieto-occipital fissure and inferiorly by the subparietal sulcus.
The precuneus has been also referred to as the quadrate lobule of Foville (named after Achille-Louis Foville).

(2) This region has been implicated in high-level cognitive functions:
• Mental imagery involving “self”
• Episodic and working memory
• Visuospatial imagery
• Involvement in processes of self-consciousness and self-awareness
• Conscious information processing

(3) 1. An anterior zone along the marginal ramus of the cingulate sulcus that exhibits functional connectivity with sensorimotor regions.
2. A central cognitive/multimodal zone that exhibits functional connectivity with the posterior part of the inferior parietal lobule and the adjacent superior temporal sulcus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
3. A posterior zone along the parieto-occipital fissure that exhibits functional connectivity with the visual prestriate cortex in the cuneus and the dorsal lateral occipital region.
(based on Margulies et al., 2009).

 

 

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