The Retraining of Frontal Lobe Dysfunction

Abstract

The mystery and enigma of human frontal lobe cortical function has been a topic of fascination to a number of psychologists for many years. Unfortunately, information concerning function is usually best obtained as the result of a malfunction due to a known lesion. Goldstein (1944) reported a noticeable impairment of abstract attitude and that although these individuals appeared to have sufficient ability to handle routine work, they seemed to lack initiative, foresight, and the ability to handle new tasks. They were also frequently impaired in voluntary shifting of activity and choice, but because these are often rather subtle behaviors, he observed that these impairments would often be overlooked in everyday life. Similarly, A. R. Luria stated that the basic thought defect characteristic of patients with lesions of the frontal lobes does not consist of an absence of logical reasoning abilities, because they can reason from a logical basis and can find relationships and even solve problems in analogy (Luria, 1973). Instead, their defect appears when faced with the necessity of making a goal-directed choice from a number of equally probable alternatives.