Superior longitudinal fasciculus

Superior longitudinal fasciculus
Lateral surface of left cerebral hemisphere. Some of major association tracts are depicted. Superior longitudinal fasciculus is at center, in red.
Diagram showing principal systems of association fibers in the cerebrum. (Sup. longitudinal fasc. labeled at center top.)
Details
Identifiers
Latin	fasciculus longitudinalis superior cerebri
NeuroNames	ancil-537
Dorlands /Elsevier	f_03/
TA	A14.1.09.557
FMA	77631
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy []

The superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) is an association fiber tract that is composed of three separate components. It is present in both hemispheres and can be found lateral to the centrum ovale and connects the frontal, occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes. These bundles of axon tracts pass from the frontal lobe through the operculum to the posterior end of the lateral sulcus where they either radiate to and synapse on neurons in the occipital lobe or turn downward and forward around the putamen and then radiate to and synapse on neurons in anterior portions of the temporal lobe.

The SLF is composed of three distinct components SLF I, SLF II, and SLF III.

SLF I is the dorsal component and originates in the superior and medial parietal cortex, passes around the cingulate sulcus and in the superior parietal and frontal white matter, and terminates in the dorsal and medial cortex of the frontal lobe (Brodmann 6, 8, and 9) and in the supplementary motor cortex (M II).

SLF I connects to the superior parietal cortex which encodes locations of body parts in a body-centric coordinate system and with M II and dorsal premotor cortex. This suggests the SLF I is involved with regulating motor behavior, especially conditional associative tasks which select among competing motor tasks based on conditional rules.

SLF II is the major component of SLF and originates in the caudal-inferior parietal cortex and terminates in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann 6, 8 and 46).