What is parietal operculum?

The parietal operculum is part of the parietal lobe in the human brain that is partly responsible for processing many of the body's senses such as touch, pain, temperature and sight. This is due to the location of the human secondary somatosensory cortex in the parietal operculum.

The term "operculm" means "little lid" in Latin. The other two opercula in the human brain are the frontal operculum, which is part of the frontal lobe, and the temporal operculum, which is part of the temporal lobe. Together the three opecula cover the insula as the opecula of insula. The opercula lie on the precentral and postcentarl gyri.