Cortical area · one in each half of the brain
Lingual gyrus
Below the calcarine groove: sees the upper half of your view and helps with color.
A tongue-shaped ridge on the inner underside of the occipital lobe, just below the calcarine sulcus. It holds early visual areas that handle the upper half of your view on the opposite side. Together with the fusiform gyrus next door, it helps you see color. It also helps recognize places and landmarks.
Where it is
On the inner underside of the occipital lobe, below the calcarine sulcus and just above the cerebellum. At its front it merges into the parahippocampal gyrus.
What it does
Seeing the upper field
It handles the upper half of your view on the opposite side, where the sky and faces often are.
Color
With the fusiform gyrus, it helps turn signals from the eye into the rich colors you experience.
Landmarks and places
It helps recognize familiar places and scenes, supporting your sense of direction.
Visual memory
It seems to help store visual memories and is active when you picture things in your mind.
Think of it as the camera operator filming the sky, while the cuneus above the groove films the ground.
Works with
- Primary visual cortexIt receives input from V1 lining the groove just above it.
- CuneusIts partner above the groove covers the lower half of your view.
- Fusiform gyrusIts neighbor on the underside works with it on color, faces and words.
- Parahippocampal gyrusIt flows into this scene area in front, helping recognize places.
- Optic radiationThe lower fibers of this cable take a detour through the temporal lobe, called Meyer's loop, to carry the upper half of your view here.
When it goes wrong
Losing an upper corner of vision
Damage here or to the fibers looping through the temporal lobe can blank out the upper quarter of vision on the opposite side. Doctors nickname this "pie in the sky".
Color blindness from the brain
Damage to the lingual and fusiform gyri can drain the color out of the world, leaving everything in shades of gray, even with healthy eyes.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- Oliver Sacks wrote about a painter who lost all color vision after a car accident injured his brain. Food looked so gray and unappetizing that he began choosing black and white foods, like black olives and white rice.
- Even though it sits on the underside of the brain, it helps you see what is above you, because the brain's visual map is flipped.
Where the name comes from
From the Latin "lingua", meaning "tongue", because of its long, tongue-like shape.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the lingual gyrus?
Show the answer
Seeing the upper field. It handles the upper half of your view on the opposite side, where the sky and faces often are.
Seeing the upper field. It handles the upper half of your view on the opposite side, where the sky and faces often are.
The lingual gyrus is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Occipital lobe. It belongs to the occipital lobe.
Occipital lobe. It belongs to the occipital lobe.
Which part fits this description? "Like the camera operator filming the sky, while the cuneus above the groove films the ground."
Show the answer
Lingual gyrus. It is the lingual gyrus. Below the calcarine groove: sees the upper half of your view and helps with color.
Lingual gyrus. It is the lingual gyrus. Below the calcarine groove: sees the upper half of your view and helps with color.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- Lingual gyrus, Radiopaedia
- Neuroanatomy, Visual Pathway, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Neuroanatomy, Cerebral Cortex, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
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