Subcallosal Field

The subcallosal area (lat. area subcallosa) is an area in the cerebral cortex of vertebrates, including humans, responsible for the sense of smell. It is a relatively small collection of gray matter in the medial frontal lobe, which lies between the front and back of the brain.

The subcallosal area gets its name from the fact that it contains cells called “subcallosities” (from the Latin word subcallosus, meaning “calloused”). These cells are responsible for processing odor-related information.

In the subcallosal field, olfactory information received from olfactory receptors located in the nasal cavity is processed. This information is then transmitted to other areas of the brain for processing and interpretation.

In animals such as dogs and cats, the subcallosal area plays an important role in detecting smell. For example, cats can use this field to locate prey or danger. In humans, the subcallosal area is also associated with the perception of odors, but its role in this process is less studied.

Although the subcallosal area is a relatively small structure in the brain, it plays an important role in the processing of olfactory information and may be associated with other brain functions such as memory and attention.

In some languages ​​of the world, the perception of sounds is associated with the big toe - its movement helps us identify individual words and sounds in speech. Just one touch of the big toe to the foot makes the word "water" feel like "vo-da", emphasizing the initial consonant (v) and the labial (w). When using language or text-based communication, we do not take this role into account for recognized words. However, scientists have discovered a relationship between the location in the human brain associated with the perception of smells and the ability to understand the subtleties of speech.

Researchers can now argue that our ability to recognize unusual sounds is determined by whether we have visual access to the coordinates of the olfactory receptors in our nasal cavity. When a person can control their own nose, speech becomes clearer and easier to understand. This simple structural feature makes it easier to perceive the human voice and background noise, as long as the big toe remains covered. Interestingly, all these indicators significantly correlate with how well a person understands the speech of people around him, as well as with their sensitivity to smells. Research suggests that one of the two parts of the brain responsible for language processing is also located in the brain beneath the rostral midbrain. This part has a name - the subcerebellar area, which, as it turns out, serves as the center of all auditory processing of the human body associated with the sense of smell.

The subcerebellar field, a structural element of the brain, has been given a special status as a result of neurobiological research. However, some patients who have undergone surgery for a rare form of brain tumor and have had a small portion of the aforementioned subcerebellar area repaired have reported significant improvements in their ability to understand and pronounce words correctly after surgery. For such cases, some scientists believe this is an encouraging first step for research into treating cognitive impairment associated with dysfunction of the subcerebellar regions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

The suggestion that, more than 50 years ago, a formulated “head nod” signal during introductions would actually help form new neural connections in the infant's brain is entirely consistent with these studies.