Cortical area · one in each half of the brain
Temporal pole
Also called Brodmann area 38
The front tip of the temporal lobe, where facts about people meet feelings.
The rounded front tip of each temporal lobe. It is a meeting point that ties knowledge together, especially what you know about people: their names, faces, voices and the feelings they stir. Because it is wired to the amygdala and the underside of the frontal lobe, it colors facts with emotion. It is a key hub for meaning and social understanding.
Where it is
At the very front of the temporal lobe, resting in a bony hollow of the skull just behind and to the side of the eyes.
What it does
Knowing people
It helps you recall who someone is and name familiar people, like a friend or a celebrity.
A hub for meaning
It helps join together everything you know about a thing, its look, sound, feel and use, into one concept.
Emotion and memory
It links knowledge with emotion, like the warm feeling when you see an old friend.
Social understanding
It helps you understand social situations and the unspoken rules between people.
Think of it as a contact card for everyone you know, where name, face, voice and your feelings about them are clipped together.
Works with
- AmygdalaIts close neighbor adds emotional meaning to people and things.
- Uncinate fasciculusThis hook-shaped fiber cable connects it with the underside of the frontal lobe.
- Orbitofrontal cortexTogether they weigh the value and social meaning of people and choices.
- Fusiform gyrusThe face area recognizes a face, and the temporal pole attaches a name and a life story to it.
- HippocampusThe hippocampus stores personal memories that the temporal pole links to people and things.
When it goes wrong
Semantic dementia
A type of dementia that slowly erodes the front temporal lobes. People gradually lose the meaning of words and objects, and might no longer know what a zebra or a corkscrew is.
Trouble recognizing people
Damage, especially on the right side, can make familiar people feel like strangers, even when the face is seen clearly.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- In the 1930s, monkeys whose temporal lobes, including the amygdala, were removed became oddly calm, lost their fear of threats and put all sorts of objects in their mouths. This is called Kluver-Bucy syndrome.
- The temporal pole sits close to air-filled spaces in the skull, which can blur some brain scans in that spot, making it harder to study.
Where the name comes from
"Pole" means the tip or end point, like the North Pole of a globe.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the temporal pole?
Show the answer
Knowing people. It helps you recall who someone is and name familiar people, like a friend or a celebrity.
Knowing people. It helps you recall who someone is and name familiar people, like a friend or a celebrity.
The temporal pole is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Temporal lobe. It belongs to the temporal lobe.
Temporal lobe. It belongs to the temporal lobe.
Which part fits this description? "Like a contact card for everyone you know, where name, face, voice and your feelings about them are clipped together."
Show the answer
Temporal pole. It is the temporal pole. The front tip of the temporal lobe, where facts about people meet feelings.
Temporal pole. It is the temporal pole. The front tip of the temporal lobe, where facts about people meet feelings.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- Temporal pole, Radiopaedia
- Primary Progressive Aphasia, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Kluver-Bucy Syndrome, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
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Explore the temporal pole in 3D
Turn it around, zoom inside and see how it connects to the rest of the brain, then test yourself with quick quizzes.
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