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The Four Lobes of the Brain

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Learning Objective

Remember and identify the four lobes of the cerebral cortex and their primary functions (Bloom Level 1 - Remember).

Overview

The cerebrum, the largest part of the human brain, is divided into four lobes. Each lobe handles different types of thinking, sensing, and movement. When dementia damages brain tissue, the symptoms a person experiences depend on which lobe is affected first. Learning where these lobes sit and what they do helps caregivers and families understand why their loved one may be struggling with specific tasks.

How to Use This Diagram

Explore Mode — Hover over any numbered marker or label to see a description of that lobe and how dementia can affect it.

Quiz Mode — Click "Quiz" to test your knowledge. Read the hint, then click the correct marker on the brain. Your score is tracked, and a celebration plays when you answer all four correctly.

The Four Lobes

  1. Frontal Lobe (blue, front of brain) — Executive functions: planning, decision making, personality, behavior, voluntary movement, and speech production (Broca's area). Dementia impact: Early changes in frontotemporal dementia affect personality and judgment.
  2. Parietal Lobe (green, top of brain) — Processes touch and temperature, spatial awareness, navigation, and understanding of numbers. Dementia impact: Damage causes difficulty with spatial tasks like dressing or finding the way home.
  3. Temporal Lobe (yellow, side of brain, near ears) — Processes sound and language, forms memories (contains the hippocampus), recognizes faces, and handles emotional responses. Dementia impact: Often affected early in Alzheimer's disease, causing memory and language problems.
  4. Occipital Lobe (purple, back of brain) — Visual processing: color recognition, motion detection, and distance perception. Dementia impact: Visual processing problems in Lewy body dementia can cause hallucinations.