Knowing the left hand from the right hand, inching away from something hot, or feeling something crawling up a leg. The parietal lobe, located behind the frontal lobe, controls these types of awareness.

According to brainmadesimple.com, the parietal lobe is where “information such as taste, temperature and touch are processed.” Along with this comes the ability to interpret language, sensory details, spatial and visual perception, and memory.

Because the parietal lobe is in charge of sensory details and memory, it has everything to do with recalling a memory from a certain smell, or linking two people together because they look alike.

But most importantly, the parietal lobe controls things that go massively unnoticed, like the ability to do math, read, write or interpret language. In YouTube video “NeuroLogic Exam: Mental Status-Normal: Dominant Parietal Lobe Function” by MedicoFiles, the examiner is giving the examinee a series of tests. He tells her to “take [her] right thumb and place it on [her] left elbow,” and asks her to determine his left hand from his right hand, and tells her to count down from 100 by sevens. This series of tests examined the capabilities of her parietal lobe. The examinee  passed every test with ease, but imagine how much more difficult seemingly simple tasks would become without these skills.