The problem of the frontal lobe: A reinterpretation

To what extent the consequences of frontal-lobe lesion can be evaluated in neurological terms is inquired, and some aspects of this deficit in animals and man are reviewed.

Abstract

The frontal lobe, despite decades of intensive research by physiologists, anatomists and clinicians, has remained the most mystifying of the major subdivisions of the cerebral cortex. Unlike any other of the great cerebral promontories, the frontal lobe appears not to contain a single sub-field that could be identified with any particular sensory modality, and its entire expanse must accordingly be considered association cortex. It should, perhaps, not be surprising in view of this circumstance alone that loss of frontal cortex, in primate forms in particular, leads to a complex functional deficit, the fundamental nature of which continues to elude laboratory investigators and clinicians alike. The purpose of this paper is, to review some aspects of this deficit in animals and man, and to inquire to what extent the consequences of frontal-lobe lesion can be evaluated in neurological terms.