Precuneus

Author: Christina Loukopoulou, MSc • Reviewer: Dimitrios Mytilinaios, MD, PhD
Last reviewed: May 21, 2024
Reading time: 1 minute

The precuneus is a structure of the superior parietal lobule that can be appreciated on the medial view of the brain.

It is bounded anteriorly by the paracentral lobule and the marginal ramus of the cingulate sulcus, posteriorly it is separated from the cuneus by the parietooccipital sulcus, while inferiorly it is bordered by the subparietal sulcus.

The precuneus is an association area on the posteromedial cortex bordering the somatosensory, posterior parietal, posterior cingulate and the visual cortex.

Functionally, the precuneus is involved in a wide variety of cognitive processes, including recollection and memory, reactivity to certain cues, episodic memory retrieval and pain processing.

Terminology	English: Precuneus Latin: Precuneus Synonyms: Praecuneus
Definition	The precuneus is a structure of the superior parietal lobule and is involved in several cognitive processes such as recollection and memory, reactivity to certain cues, episodic memory retrieval and pain processing.

Learn more about other cortical structures seen on a medial view of the brain in the following study unit:

Sources

All content published on Kenhub is reviewed by medical and anatomy experts. The information we provide is grounded on academic literature and peer-reviewed research. Kenhub does not provide medical advice. You can learn more about our content creation and review standards by reading our content quality guidelines.

Crossman, A.R., Neary, D. (2014). Neuroanatomy: An Illustrated Colour Text (5th ed.). Manchester, MCR: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier.

Dadario, N.B., Sughrue, M.E. (2023). The functional role of the precuneus. Brain, 146 (9), pp. 3598–3607

Moore, K. L., Dalley, A. F. and Agur, A. (2017). Clinically oriented anatomy (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Standring, S. (2016). Gray's Anatomy (41st ed.). Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.

Precuneus: want to learn more about it?

Our engaging videos, interactive quizzes, in-depth articles and HD atlas are here to get you top results faster.

What do you prefer to learn with?

Videos Quizzes Both

“I would honestly say that Kenhub cut my study time in half.” – Read more.

Kim Bengochea, Regis University, Denver

Precuneus

Sources

Learning anatomy isn't impossible. We're here to help.

Want access to this video?

Want access to this quiz?

Want access to this gallery?

Learning anatomy isn't impossible.
We're here to help.