Sagittal MRI slice with the cuneus shown in red.
- Cuneus (Latin for "wedge"; plural, cunei) is also the architectural term applied to the wedge-shaped divisions of the Roman theatre separated by the scalae or stairways; see Vitruvius v. 4. This shape also occurred in medieval architecture.
The cuneus is a portion of the human brain in the occipital lobe.
The cuneus (Brodmann area 17) receives visual information from the contralateral superior retina representing the inferior visual field. It is most known for its involvement in basic visual processing. Pyramidal cells in the cuneus (striate cortex) project to extrastriate cortices (BA 18,19). The mid-level visual processing that occurs in the extrastriate projection fields of the cuneus are modulated by extraretinal effects, like attention, working memory, and reward expectation.
In addition to its traditional role as a site for basic visual processing, gray matter volume in the cuneus is associated with better inhibitory control in bipolar depression patients.[1] Pathologic gamblers have higher activity in the dorsal visual processing stream including the cuneus relative to controls.[2]
[edit] Gallery
Position of cuneus(red) of left cerebral hemisphere.
[edit] References
- ^ Haldane M, Cunningham G, Androutsos C, Frangou S (March 2008). "Structural brain correlates of response inhibition in Bipolar Disorder I". Journal of Psychopharmacology 22 (2): 138–43. doi:10.1177/0269881107082955. PMID 18308812.
- ^ Crockford DN, Goodyear B, Edwards J, Quickfall J, el-Guebaly N (November 2005). "Cue-induced brain activity in pathological gamblers". Biological Psychiatry 58 (10): 787–95. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.037. PMID 15993856.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
