Lateral sulcus Lateral sulcus The lateral sulcus (also called Sylvian fissure or lateral fissure) is one of the most prominent features of the human brain. The lateral sulcus is a deep fissure in each hemisphere that separates the frontal and parietal lobes from the temporal lobe. The insular cortex lies deep within the lateral sulcus. The lateral sulcus divides both the frontal lobe and parietal lobe above from the temporal lobe below. It is in both hemispheres of the brain. The lateral sulcus is one of the earliest-developing sulci of the human brain. It first appears around the fourteenth gestational week. The
Lateral sulcus point. The area lying around the Sylvian fissure is often referred to as the perisylvian cortex. The human secondary somatosensory cortex (S2, SII) is a functionally-defined region of cortex in the parietal operculum on the ceiling of the lateral sulcus. The cerebral cortex was not depicted in a realistic manner until the 17th century with the Sylvian fissure being first accurately painted by Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente in 1600 to provide plates for his "Tabulae Pictae". Its first description is traditionally taken to be in 1641 by Caspar Bartholin who attributed its discovery to Franciscus Sylvius (1614–1672), professor of medicine at