The Human Frontal Lobes: Functions and Disorders

Recent years have seen exciting advances in our understanding of the human frontal lobes and their role in diverse cognitive processes, social behaviors, and psychiatric disorders. This volume brings together current research on these important regions of the brain, examining their functions in both health and disease. Significant findings on anatomy, chemistry, and physiology are first presented. Next, chapters address such neuropsychological functions as working memory, attention, inhibition, idea and word generation, and language, tracing their links to the frontal lobes and describing new and established approaches to assessment and testing. Proceeding to clinical manifestations of pathology, contributors examine the impact upon the frontal lobes of tumors, trauma, and various neurological diseases, and explore the role of frontal lobe dysfunction in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and antisocial behavior.