Disturbances of Higher Cortical Functions with Lesions of the Frontal Region

Abstract

In the previous chapters we examined the structure and function of those parts of the human cerebral cortex that are responsible for the reception and processing of information derived from the outside world and for the formation of differentiated movements by which man responds to external stimuli. We have examined separately those disturbances of the higher cortical functions associated with lesions of the cortical divisions of the auditory, optic, cutaneokinesthetic, and motor analyzers and of the overlapping cortical areas of those zones. Cortical malfunctioning as a result of lesions of the primary and secondary fields of the cortical nuclei of the motor analyzer, the sensorimotor and premotor divisions of the cerebral cortex, was considered. In the present chapter we turn to the analysis of the structure and function of those zones of the cortex which, according to all available information, perform the most complex functions and which have been the subject of detailed investigation for a long period of time. I refer to the functional organization of the frontal lobes and the changes in behavior produced by lesions of this part of the brain.