The bilateral Left Cerebrum.Temporal Lobe.Superior Temporal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 38 corresponds to the temporal pole, a cortical region located at the most anterior part of the temporal lobe within the superior temporal gyrus. This area is heavily interconnected with limbic and paralimbic structures, including the amygdala, hippocampus, and orbitofrontal cortex, and is implicated in higher-order social and emotional processing, semantic memory, and complex associative integration of multimodal sensory information. Brodmann area 38 is thought to contribute to the comprehension of socially relevant stimuli, the contextualization of emotional experiences, and aspects of language and narrative processing, particularly those requiring integration of meaning with affective and autobiographical context. There is no direct Wikipedia article for “Brodmann area 38”; a closely related structure is the temporal pole: Temporal pole.
The bilateral left superior temporal gyrus gray matter in Brodmann area 38 (anterior temporal pole) has been implicated in several genetically influenced traits and disorders through imaging genetics and GWAS-related work, although few studies target this specific Talairach-defined parcel. Variants in genes such as CNTNAP2, FOXP2, GRIN2B, and neurexin/neuroligin family members have been associated with structural and functional variation in anterior temporal and superior temporal regions involved in language, social cognition, and semantic memory, with downstream effects on cortical thickness and volume in the temporal pole. Large neuroimaging GWAS consortia (e.g., ENIGMA) have identified polygenic influences on temporal lobe cortical thickness and surface area—often enriched for synaptic, neurodevelopmental, and axon guidance genes—though findings are typically reported for broader temporal regions rather than Brodmann area 38 specifically. Genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder has been linked to altered superior/anterior temporal morphology and activation, with common risk variants in genes involved in glutamatergic signaling, synaptic plasticity, and immune pathways contributing to these patterns. Additionally, polygenic scores for language ability, educational attainment, and social cognition show associations with structural and functional measures in superior and anterior temporal cortices, suggesting that BA38 serves as a convergence zone where distributed genetic influences on semantic, emotional, and social processing manifest in region-specific anatomy and connectivity rather than through single, region-specific loci.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 38
Hemisphere: bilateral
Atlas: Talairach labels 2mm
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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