Lesion Localization Quiz
Localization is the one neurology skill that cannot be memorized from a list. You are given a set of deficits and asked a single question: where is the damage? This quiz gives you unlimited practice cases and shows you the answer on a rotatable 3D brain, so the site stops being a name and becomes a place.
Each question describes a patient's deficits. You pick the structure. The model then flies to the region and highlights it, which is the part flashcards cannot do — you see how close the answer was to the structure you actually chose.
How to localize a lesion
Work outside in. First decide the level: cortex, subcortical white matter, brainstem, cerebellum, cord or peripheral nerve. Each level has a signature. Cortical lesions produce deficits that respect function — aphasia, neglect, apraxia. Brainstem lesions produce crossed findings, with cranial nerve signs on one side and long-tract signs on the other. Cerebellar lesions produce ipsilateral ataxia without weakness.
Then decide the side. Motor and sensory tracts have crossed above the medulla, so a right-sided weakness points left, unless a cranial nerve nucleus tells you otherwise. Finally decide the exact structure, using the deficits that only one place can produce.
The signs that pin down a location
Some findings are worth more than others because only one structure produces them. Non-fluent speech with preserved comprehension points to Broca's area. Fluent nonsense with impaired comprehension points to Wernicke's. Left-sided neglect points to the right parietal lobe. A crossed face-and-body sensory loss points to the lateral medulla.
Weakness alone localizes poorly — it can come from cortex, internal capsule, brainstem, cord or nerve. Train yourself to look past it and find the sign that narrows the field to one structure.
Why practice on a 3D model
Neuroanatomy is spatial, and two-dimensional atlas plates hide that. When you get a case wrong here, the model rotates to the correct structure and shows what sits next to it — which is usually why the case was confusing in the first place. Adjacent structures produce adjacent syndromes.
Common questions
What is lesion localization?
Lesion localization is the clinical process of working out where in the nervous system damage has occurred, based only on the pattern of a patient's deficits. It is done before imaging and it determines what imaging to order.
How do you tell a cortical lesion from a brainstem lesion?
Cortical lesions produce higher-function deficits such as aphasia, neglect or apraxia, usually with weakness on the opposite side of the body. Brainstem lesions produce crossed findings — cranial nerve signs on the same side as the lesion, with weakness or sensory loss on the opposite side.
Is this lesion localization quiz free?
Yes. Every quiz on Brain Atlas is free with no account, no login and no limit on the number of questions.