Final answer:
Damage to the parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex can result in deficits in mental rotation and map reading tasks, as this area is responsible for processing spatial orientation and visuospatial processing.
Step-by-step explanation:
The deficits in mental rotation and map reading tasks can often be attributed to damage in the parietal lobe. This region of the cerebral cortex is responsible for processing spatial orientation, managing attention for spatial tasks, recognizing shapes and managing visuospatial processing, which are all crucial abilities for mental rotation and map reading. The parietal lobe is also known for processing somatosensation, which includes touch sensations like pressure, pain, heat, and cold, as well as proprioception, which is the sense of how parts of the body are oriented in space.
The occipital lobe primarily handles vision, the temporal lobe is mostly involved in auditory processing and memory formation, and the frontal lobe deals with higher cognitive functions, including reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language. Therefore, among the options presented (a. Occipital lobe, b. Frontal lobe, c. Temporal lobe, d. Parietal lobe), the correct answer to the question about which region's damage causes deficits in mental rotation and map reading tasks is d. Parietal lobe.