Postcentral Gyrus

The postcentral gyrus, or postcentral convolution, is a strip of cortical structure which lies just behind the central sulcus, running down adjacently and parallel to it. Bounded in back by the interparietal sulcus, the postcentral gyrus is located in the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex. It is the seat of the processing center of somatosensory system, which is a sensory region of the brain.

Damage to the postcentral gyrus can cause agraphesthesia (disorientation in cutaneous space), astereognosia, loss of vibration, proprioception and fine touch (because the third-order neuron of the medial-lemniscal pathway cannot synapse in the cortex); and, if it affects the non-dominant hemisphere, it can also produce hemispatial neglect. It could also reduce nociception, thermoception and crude touch.

Postcentral gyrus