Brodmann Areas Of The Human Brain, Anatomy

Description

Brodmann areas partition the cerebral cortex into numbered fields based on cytoarchitectonic organization, and this illustration presents that map across the gyral and sulcal surface of the cerebrum. Primary motor cortex (BA 4) occupies the precentral gyrus anterior to the central sulcus, with primary somatosensory cortex (BA 3, 1, 2) immediately posterior on the postcentral gyrus. Inferiorly, BA 44 and 45 lie within the inferior frontal gyrus anterior to the lateral sulcus, while BA 22 tracks along the superior temporal gyrus; posteriorly, BA 17 surrounds the calcarine region of the occipital lobe, bordered by visual association areas (BA 18 and 19). Association cortex fields extend across the dorsolateral prefrontal, parietal, and temporal convexities. Numbers matter. Clinicians still lean on Brodmann’s cytoarchitectonic map when translating symptoms into cortical localization: expressive aphasia aligns with lesions involving BA 44/45 in the dominant hemisphere, receptive aphasia with posterior BA 22, and contralateral homonymous visual field loss with occipital involvement centered on BA 17. Neurosurgical planning for tumor resection, epilepsy surgery, or awake mapping often starts from these landmarks and then refines with functional mapping and imaging, so a fixed, labeled cortical atlas helps keep the anatomical conversation anchored to the same reference. For teaching, the adjacency of BA 4 and BA 3/1/2 across the central sulcus and the posterior-to-anterior gradient from primary sensory to association cortex read cleanly in a single frame. Use this illustration in undergraduate neuroanatomy and medical neuroscience modules, in neurology and neurosurgery lectures on cortical syndromes, and in textbooks or journal figures that need an accurate Brodmann map to accompany fMRI, PET, or lesion diagrams. It also supports patient-facing materials explaining stroke territories and language localization without drifting into oversimplified lobar labels. Anatomical accuracy verified by SciePro's Medical Advisory Board.