The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Occipital Lobe.Inferior Temporal Gyrus corresponds to the inferior temporal gyrus located near the occipital–temporal junction, a ventral cortical region extending along the lateral and basal surface of the temporal lobe toward the occipital lobe. This region is part of the ventral visual processing stream and is implicated in higher-order visual functions such as object and form recognition, complex shape processing, and aspects of visual memory. It receives input from earlier visual areas in the occipital cortex and relays processed information toward more anterior temporal regions involved in semantic representation and category-specific recognition (e.g., faces, objects, and scenes). The region is heavily interconnected with adjacent fusiform and middle temporal gyri as well as parietal and frontal association areas, supporting integration of visual details with contextual and semantic information. There is no direct link; see the related structure Inferior temporal gyrus.
The bilateral left occipital–inferior temporal region (often encompassing portions of the inferior temporal gyrus and adjacent occipital cortex in Talairach 1 mm space) has been implicated in genetic studies of visual processing, object and face recognition, and higher-order perceptual integration. GWAS of brain structure and functional connectivity (e.g., ENIGMA and UK Biobank–scale studies) have reported associations between variation in this region’s cortical thickness, surface area, or activation and common variants near genes involved in synaptic development and axon guidance (such as NRXN1, CNTNAP2, and ROBO family genes), as well as genes related to neurodevelopmental patterning (e.g., variants in MAPT and other 17q21 loci affecting occipitotemporal morphology). Neuroimaging–genetics work in autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder has linked risk loci (including 3p21, 6p22–p21 MHC region, and 22q11.2 CNVs) to altered structure or function in inferior temporal/occipitotemporal cortex, consistent with deficits in face and object perception and social cognition. Additional GWAS of reading and language traits, prosopagnosia, and visual word form processing have associated inferior occipitotemporal activation—overlapping the visual word form and fusiform face areas—with common variants in genes affecting cortical specialization (e.g., DCDC2, KIAA0319, FOXP2-related networks), while studies in neurodegenerative disorders such as posterior cortical atrophy and semantic variant primary progressive aphasia suggest that susceptibility loci for Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (including APOE ε4 and GRN) influence vulnerability of this region to atrophy and dysfunction.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 419
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 1mm
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Full Quality Version: Download MP4
Wali Sidiqyar*, Gaurav Rudravaram*, Elyssa M. McMaster, Trent M. Schwartz, Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Bennett A. Landman "Introducing SPINS: A Shared Public Visualization Library of Neuroanatomical Structures." Medical Imaging with Deep Learning- short paper
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