Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:17:03.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Frontal Lobology – Psychiatry's New Pseudoscience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Anthony S. David*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital & the Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS

Extract

The frontal lobes are the most evolutionarily advanced organ of the body. Here lies the seat of the highest human functions of thought, intellect, creativity, self-control and social interaction (Milner & Petrides, 1984; Lishman, 1987; Russell & Roxanas, 1990; Kolb & Wishaw, 1990). As one recent reviewer notes (Reading, 1991), it is hard to avoid ‘sounding metaphysical’ when going through such a list. It seems that, in accordance with psychiatry's own late phylogenesis, the frontal lobes have only just been discovered.

Type
Point of View
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, N. C., Ehrhardt, J. C., Swayze, V. W., et al (1990) Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 3544.Google Scholar
Behar, D., Rappaport, J. L., Berg, C. J., et al (1984) Computed tomography and neuropsychological test measures in adolescents with obsessive compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 363369.Google Scholar
Benson, D. F. & Stuss, D. T. (1991) Frontal lobe influences on delusions: a clinical perspective. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 403411.Google Scholar
Berman, K. F. & Weinberger, D. R. (1990) Lateralisation of cortical function during cognitive tasks: regional cerebral blood flow studies of normal individuals and patients with schizophrenia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 53, 150160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blumer, D. & Benson, D. F. (1975) Personality changes with frontal and temporal lobe lesions. In Psychiatric Aspects of Neurological Disease (eds Benson, D. F. & Blumer, D.). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Chapman, L. J. & Chapman, J. P. (1973) Problems of measurement of cognitive deficit. Psychological Bulletin, 79, 380385.Google Scholar
Cutting, J. C. (1990) The Right Cerebral Hemisphere and Psychiatric Disorders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
David, A. S. (1990) Insight and psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 798808.Google Scholar
David, A. S. (1992) Cognitive neuropsychiatry? Psychological Medicine (in press).Google Scholar
Drewe, E. A. (1974) The effect of type and area of brain lesion on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance. Cortex, 10, 159170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan, J. (1986) Disorganization of behaviour after frontal lobe damage. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 3, 271290.Google Scholar
Eslinger, P. J. & Damasio, A. R. (1985) Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal ablation: patient EVR. Neurology, 35, 17311741.Google Scholar
Everett, J., Laplante, L. & Thomas, J. (1989) The selective attention deficit in schizophrenia: limited resources or cognitive fatigue? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, 735738.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fodor, J. A. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Frith, C. D. & Done, D. J. (1990) Towards a neuropsychology of schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 437443.Google Scholar
Fuster, J. M. (1989) The Prefrontal Cortex (2nd edn). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, E. (1985) Akinesia, tardive dysmentia and frontal lobe disorder in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 11, 255.Google Scholar
Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F., et al (1987) Further evidence for the dementia of the prefrontal type in schizophrenia? Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 10081014.Google Scholar
Golden, C. J. (1976) Identification of brain disorders by the Stroop color and word test. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 32, 654658.Google Scholar
Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1984) Modular organization of prefrontal cortex. Trends in Neuroscience, 7, 419424.Google Scholar
Goldstein, K. (1944) Mental changes due to frontal lobe damage. Journal of Psychology, 17, 187208.Google Scholar
Gorenstein, E. E. (1982) Frontal lobe function in psychopaths. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 368379.Google Scholar
Hebb, D. O. (1945) Man's frontal lobe: a critical review. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 54, 1024.Google Scholar
Heinrichs, R. W. (1990) Variables associated with Wisconsin card sorting test performance in neuropsychiatric patients referred for assessment. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioural Neurology, 3, 107112.Google Scholar
Kolb, B. & Wishaw, I. Q. (1983) Performance of schizophrenic patients on tests sensitive to left or right frontal temporal, or parietal function in neurological patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 435443.Google Scholar
Kolb, B. & Wishaw, I. Q. (1990) Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology (3rd edn). New York: W. H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Kopelman, M. D. (1991) Frontal dysfunction and memory deficits in the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome and Alzheimer-type dementia. Brain, 114, 117137.Google ScholarPubMed
L'hermitte, F. (1986) Human autonomy and the frontal lobes. Part II. Patient behaviour in complex and social situations: The “environmental dependency syndrome”. Annals of Neurology, 19, 335343.Google Scholar
Liddle, P. & Morris, D. L. (1991) Schizophrenic symptoms and frontal lobe performance. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 340345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lishman, W. A. (1987) Organic Psychiatry (2nd edn). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1966) Higher Cortical Function in Man. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Malmo, H. P. (1974) On frontal lobe functions: psychiatric patient controls. Cortex, 10, 231237.Google Scholar
Mattes, J. A. (1980) The role of frontal lobe dysfunction in childhood hyperkinesis. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 21, 358369.Google Scholar
Mattes, R., Cohen, R., Berg, P., et al (1991) Slow cortical potentials (SCPS) in schizophrenic patients during performance of the Wisconsin card-sorting test (WCST). Neuropsychologia, 29, 195205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C. M. (1991) Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163203.Google Scholar
McGrath, J. (1991) Ordering thoughts on thought disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 307316.Google Scholar
Milner, B. (1963) Effects of different brain lesions on card sorting. Archives of Neurology, 9, 90100.Google Scholar
Milner, B., & Petrides, M. (1984) Behavioural effects of frontal lobe lesions in man. Trends in Neuroscience, 7, 403407.Google Scholar
Morice, R. (1990) Cognitive inflexibility and pre-frontal dysfunction in schizophrenia and mania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 5054.Google Scholar
Nelson, H. E. (1976) A modified card sorting test sensitive to frontal lobe defects. Cortex, 12, 313324.Google Scholar
Pardo, J. V., Pardo, P. J., Janer, K. W., et al (1990) The anterior cingulate cortex mediates processing selection in the Stroop attentional conflict paradigm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 67, 256259.Google Scholar
Parfitt, D. N. (1956) The neurology of schizophrenia. Journal of Mental Science, 102, 671718.Google Scholar
Perret, E. (1974) The left frontal lobe in man and suppression of habitual responses in verbal categorical behaviour. Neuropsychologia, 12, 323330.Google Scholar
Reading, P. J. (1991) Frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease – meeting point for neurology, psychology and psychiatry. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 84, 349353.Google Scholar
Robbins, T. W. (1990) The case for frontostriatal dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 16, 391402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, G. W. (1991) Schizophrenia: a neuropathological perspective. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 817.Google Scholar
Robinson, A. L., Heaton, R. K., Lehman, R. A. W., et al (1980) The utility of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in detecting and localizing frontal lobe lesions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 605614.Google Scholar
Robinson, R. G., Kubos, K. L. & Starr, L. B. (1984) Mood disorders in stroke patients: the importance of location of lesions. Brain, 107, 8193.Google Scholar
Rogers, D. (1985) The motor disorders of severe psychiatric illness: a conflict of paradigms. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 221232.Google Scholar
Russell, J. D. & Roxanas, M. G. (1990) Review: psychiatry and the frontal lobes. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 24, 113132.Google Scholar
Sagawa, K., Kawakatsu, S., Shibuya, I., et al (1990) Correlation of cerebral blood flow with performance on neuropsychological tests in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenia Research, 3, 241246.Google Scholar
Shallice, T. & Burgess, P. W. (1991) Deficits in strategy application following frontal lobe damage in man. Brain, 114, 727741.Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1988) From Neuropsychology to Mental Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stuss, D. L. & Benson, D. F. (1986) The Frontal Lobes. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Summerfeldt, A. T., Alphs, L. D., Funderburk, F. R., et al (1991) Impaired Wisconsin card sort performance in schizophrenia may reflect motivational deficits. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 282283.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. A. (1990) Catatonia. A review of a behavioral neurologic syndrome. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioural Neurology, 3, 4872.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. A. & Abrams, R. (1986) Cognitive dysfunction in mania. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 27, 186191.Google Scholar
Warren, L. R., Butler, R. W., Katholi, C. R., et al (1984) Focal changes in cerebral blood flow produced by monetary incentive during a mental mathematics task in normal and depressed subjects. Brain and Cognition, 3, 7181.Google Scholar
Warrington, E. K., James, M. & Maciejewski, C. (1986) The WAIS as a lateralising and localising diagnostic instrument. A study of 656 patients with unilateral cerebral lesions.Google Scholar
Neuropsychologia, 24, 223239.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. & Zec, R. F. (1986) Physiological dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. I. Regional cerebral blood flow evidence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 114124.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. & Iadarola, M., et al (1988) Prefrontal cortical blood flow and cognitive function in Huntington's disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 51, 94104.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. R., Berman, K. F. (1988) Speculation on the meaning of cerebral metabolic hypofrontality in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 14, 157168.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.