Brodmann Areas Quiz
Brodmann divided the cortex into 52 areas based on how the cell layers look under a microscope, over a century ago. The map survives because the boundaries turned out to track function remarkably well. This quiz asks you to match number to place.
The ones worth memorising
You do not need all 52. Area 4 is primary motor, in the precentral gyrus. Areas 3, 1 and 2 are primary somatosensory, in the postcentral gyrus. Area 17 is primary visual cortex; 18 and 19 are visual association. Areas 41 and 42 are primary auditory. Areas 44 and 45 together are Broca's area. Area 22 covers Wernicke's.
That handful accounts for nearly every citation you will meet in a paper or a lecture.
Why the numbering looks random
Brodmann numbered areas in the order he examined them, not by location or function. There is no logic to recover, which is exactly why spatial practice beats rote listing — the number attaches to a place on a model far more readily than to a position in a list.
Common questions
What is Brodmann area 4?
The primary motor cortex, located in the precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe. It contains the giant Betz cells that give rise to much of the corticospinal tract.
Which Brodmann areas make up Broca's area?
Areas 44 and 45 — the pars opercularis and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, usually in the left hemisphere.