The bilateral Right Cerebrum.Temporal Lobe.Transverse Temporal Gyrus.Gray Matter.Brodmann area 41 corresponds to primary auditory cortex located in the transverse temporal (Heschl’s) gyrus on the superior surface of the temporal lobe. This region is cytoarchitectonically defined by Brodmann as area 41, characterized by a granular cortical structure specialized for early-stage auditory processing, including frequency analysis, sound intensity encoding, and temporal pattern discrimination. It receives dense input from the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and projects to adjacent auditory association cortices (e.g., Brodmann area 42 and superior temporal regions), forming part of the auditory pathway that underlies perception of complex sounds such as speech and environmental noises. There is no direct Wikipedia article for Brodmann area 41; a closely related and encompassing structure is Heschl’s gyrus.
The bilateral right transverse temporal gyrus (primary auditory cortex, Brodmann area 41) has been implicated in genetic studies primarily through imaging genetics and GWAS of brain structure and function, though few findings are region-specific at the fine Talairach 2 mm resolution. Variants in genes related to synaptic function, neurodevelopment, and neuronal signaling (e.g., GRIN2A, CACNA1C, FOXP2, and other glutamatergic and calcium-channel genes) have been associated with auditory cortex morphology, cortical thickness, or activation patterns during auditory and language tasks, and large-scale ENIGMA and UK Biobank analyses have identified polygenic influences on temporal lobe gray matter volume that likely encompass BA41. GWAS of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression have linked risk polygenic scores to structural and functional alterations in the superior and transverse temporal gyri, including asymmetry and volume changes, while genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder and specific language impairment has been associated with atypical development and connectivity in auditory and language-related temporal areas that include BA41. Studies of hallucinations (particularly in psychosis), tinnitus, and musical aptitude or pitch perception report that polygenic and candidate-gene factors modulate activity and structure in primary auditory cortex, though causal gene–region mappings remain indirect. Overall, genetic influences on BA41 appear embedded in broader polygenic architectures affecting temporal lobe development, sensory processing, and psychiatric risk, with no single gene uniquely or specifically tied to the bilateral right transverse temporal gyrus in current GWAS literature.
Overview generated by GPT-4o (2026).
Region ID: 719
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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