Cortical area · one in each half of the brain
Superior frontal gyrus
Also called SFG, Contains the supplementary motor area (SMA)
The top ridge of the frontal lobe: a hub for self-control, focus and starting movement.
The superior frontal gyrus is the long ridge that runs along the top of the frontal lobe, from the forehead back toward the motor strip. It also folds down onto the inner wall between the two halves of the brain. Its back part helps plan and launch movements, and its front parts help with working memory, focus and thinking about yourself.
Where it is
Along the top of the frontal lobe, running front to back next to the deep gap that separates the left and right halves of the brain. It wraps over the edge onto the inner surface.
What it does
Starting movements
Its back part contains the supplementary motor area, which plans sequences of movements and helps start actions you choose to make yourself.
Working memory
Its outer side helps hold and juggle information in mind, especially when a task gets demanding.
Thinking about yourself
Its inner front part becomes active when you reflect on your own traits and abilities.
Two hands together
It helps the two hands cooperate, like when you tie shoelaces or play the piano.
Think of it as a launch control room: it prepares movements and holds your plans in mind before giving the signal to go.
Works with
- Primary motor cortexIt hands its movement plans to the primary motor cortex just behind it, which sends the final commands.
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cortexIts neighbor on the side works with it to hold information in mind and stay on task.
- PutamenA movement loop through the putamen helps it start actions and string them together smoothly.
- Caudal anterior cingulate cortexThe cingulate cortex just below it flags mistakes and effort, helping it decide when to act.
- Corpus callosumFibers crossing the corpus callosum let the left and right sides coordinate your two hands.
When it goes wrong
SMA syndrome
After surgery near its back part, some people struggle for a while to start moving or speaking, often on the opposite side of the body. This usually improves over weeks to months.
Alien hand
Damage to its inner surface, sometimes together with the corpus callosum, can cause alien hand syndrome, where a hand seems to act on its own, out of the person's control.
Stroke
A stroke in the anterior cerebral artery, which supplies this strip and its neighbors, can cause weakness in the opposite leg and a loss of drive or spontaneous speech.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- Brain activity that prepares a movement you choose to make, called the readiness potential, starts building several hundred milliseconds before people report deciding to move. What that means for free will is still hotly debated.
Where the name comes from
"Superior" is Latin for upper. "Gyrus" comes from the Greek "gyros", meaning circle or ring, and is the name for each rounded ridge on the surface of the brain.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the superior frontal gyrus?
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Starting movements. Its back part contains the supplementary motor area, which plans sequences of movements and helps start actions you choose to make yourself.
Starting movements. Its back part contains the supplementary motor area, which plans sequences of movements and helps start actions you choose to make yourself.
The superior frontal gyrus is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Prefrontal cortex. It belongs to the prefrontal cortex.
Prefrontal cortex. It belongs to the prefrontal cortex.
Which part fits this description? "Like a launch control room: it prepares movements and holds your plans in mind before giving the signal to go."
Show the answer
Superior frontal gyrus. It is the superior frontal gyrus. The top ridge of the frontal lobe: a hub for self-control, focus and starting movement.
Superior frontal gyrus. It is the superior frontal gyrus. The top ridge of the frontal lobe: a hub for self-control, focus and starting movement.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- Superior frontal gyrus, Radiopaedia
- Supplementary motor area, Radiopaedia
- Anterior Cerebral Artery Stroke, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
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