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The Frontal Lobe is the most anterior, right under the forehead.
Functions:
How we know what we are doing within our environment (Consciousness).
How we initiate activity in response to our environment.
Judgments we make about what occurs in our daily activities.
Controls our emotional response.
Controls our expressive language.
Assigns meaning to the words we choose.
Involves word associations.
Memory for habits and motor activities.
Observed Problems:
Loss of simple movement of various body parts (Paralysis).
Inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete multi-stepped tasks, such as making coffee (Sequencing).
Loss of spontaneity in interacting with others.
Loss of flexibility in thinking.
Persistence of a single thought (Perseveration).
Inability to focus on task (Attending).
Mood changes (Emotionally Labile).
Changes in social behavior.
Changes in personality.
Difficulty with problem solving.
Inablility to express language (Broca's Aphasia).
The frontal lobes are responsible for voluntary motor activity, speaking ability and elaboration of thought. The primary motor cortex, which is located in between the left hemisphere and somato sensory cortex, confers voluntary control over the movement produced by the skeletal muscles. As in sensory processing, the motor cortex on each side of the brain primarily controls muscles on the opposite side of the body. Damage to the motor cortex on the left side of the brain produces paralysis on the right side of the body and vice versa. The frontal lobe extends from the central sulcus to the anterior limit of the brain. The posterior portion of the frontal lobe is precentral gyrus, which is specialized for the control of fine movements, such as the movement of fingers one at a time. The prefrontal cortex, the most anterior portion of the frontal lobe, is the only cortical area known to receive input from all sensory modalities. This region was also the target of prefrontal lobotomies, a type of brain surgery conducted in attempts to control certain types of psychological disorders. As a result of the surgery, patients showed impairments in certain aspects of memory and in their facial expressions of emotion.
The frontal lobe can be divided into three functional zones:
- Motor cortex: Responsible for initiating voluntary movements
- Premotor cortex: Selects movements based on external cues.
- Prefrontal cortex: Ensures that the right movements are made at the time and place.
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