The bilateral Right Cerebrum.Frontal Lobe.Superior Frontal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 11 corresponds to portions of the orbitofrontal and adjacent medial prefrontal cortex involved in high-level integrative functions of decision-making, reward evaluation, and emotional regulation. Brodmann area 11 receives multimodal sensory inputs (including limbic, olfactory, and visual information) and projects to other prefrontal, limbic, and subcortical structures, supporting valuation of outcomes, adaptive behavioral choice, and modulation of autonomic responses. Neuronal ensembles in this region are implicated in encoding expected reward and punishment, updating stimulus–reinforcement associations, and guiding socially appropriate behavior, with dysfunction linked to disorders of impulse control, mood, and personality.
Genetic associations involving the bilateral right superior frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 11, orbitofrontal segment) primarily emerge from imaging genetics and GWAS of brain structure and function, rather than single-region candidate studies. Large-scale GWAS of cortical thickness and surface area (e.g., ENIGMA, UK Biobank) have implicated loci near genes such as FOXP1, DACH1, HMGA2, and others in variability of frontal cortical morphology, including superior/orbitofrontal regions, although these findings are typically reported at lobar or parcel-based scales rather than Talairach-defined BA11 specifically. Polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and ADHD have been associated with altered frontal gray matter and orbitofrontal/superior frontal volume and connectivity, suggesting pleiotropic effects of psychiatric risk variants on this region’s structure. GWAS of cognitive traits (general intelligence, executive function, educational attainment) show that variants in genes involved in synaptic plasticity and neurodevelopment (e.g., BDNF-related pathways, glutamatergic signaling) are linked to superior frontal cortical measures and task-related activation, consistent with the region’s role in decision making and cognitive control. Additional associations arise from studies of risk-taking, impulsivity, substance use, and personality traits (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness), where genetic variants influencing dopaminergic and serotonergic signaling, and polygenic indices for these behaviors, have been tied to functional and structural variation in orbitofrontal/superior frontal areas. However, current evidence generally reflects distributed genetic effects on frontal networks rather than specific, uniquely identified variants acting solely on right BA11 gray matter.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 153
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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