The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Temporal Lobe.Middle Temporal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 37 corresponds to a ventral posterior temporal cortical region located in the left middle temporal gyrus, near the occipitotemporal junction, within the gray matter of Brodmann area 37. This area is part of the ventral visual processing stream and is strongly implicated in high-level object and face recognition, semantic processing of visual stimuli, and integration of visual form with stored conceptual knowledge. Functionally, it contributes to the recognition of complex visual categories (such as words and faces) and to multimodal association processes that link visual input to language and memory systems, with particular relevance for left-lateralized semantic and lexical functions. There is no direct link for this exact compound label; a related structure is Brodmann area 37.
Brodmann area 37 in the middle temporal gyrus (MTG), part of the left temporal lobe gray matter, is implicated in genetic studies of language, reading, semantic processing, and higher-order visual recognition. GWAS and imaging-genetics work indicate that variants near FOXP2, CNTNAP2, KIAA0319, and DCDC2 influence structure and function of left temporal regions encompassing MTG and adjacent BA37, consistent with associations to developmental language disorder and dyslexia. Polygenic scores for educational attainment and cognitive performance show correlations with cortical thickness and surface area in lateral temporal cortices, including BA37, while schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder risk loci (e.g., in GRIN2A, NRG1, and synaptic genes) have been linked to altered temporal lobe morphology and connectivity that often include MTG/BA37 in case–control and endophenotype analyses. GWAS of facial and object recognition and social cognition also implicate temporal-occipital regions overlapping BA37 (including the fusiform gyrus), aligning with genetic contributions from neurodevelopmental and synaptic pathways. Large-scale cortical morphometry GWAS (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) report that common variants in genes related to neuronal migration, axon guidance, and synaptic plasticity are associated with regional gray matter volume and surface area in the middle and inferior temporal gyri, suggesting that BA37 serves as a convergence zone where polygenic influences on language, visual-semantic integration, and neuropsychiatric risk are anatomically expressed.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 269
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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