The Frontal Lobes and Voluntary Action

ISBN-13: 9780198523642 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 328 str.

R. E. Passingham; Richard Passingham

Opis

This book succinctly demonstrates how the brain's frontal lobe is specialized for directing voluntary action. Using data from monkeys, neurological patients, and normal subjects, the author presents a flow diagram of frontal lobe operations at the systems level. Topics include the various definitions of the term "voluntary" in a neuropsychological context, how the motor cortex provides a mechanism for the execution of voluntary behavioral actions, and how the premotor areas play a role in the selection of the movements to be performed. The text also shows how the prefrontal cortex is engaged when the subject has to make new voluntary decisions, and how the basal ganglia play a critical role in response learning. The author considers how, in humans, the prefrontal cortex has been refined to allow for trial-and-error decision making, and how the premotor and prefrontal areas select between verbal responses. Psychologists, neuropsychologists, and neurophysiologists will all want to read this pathbreaking book.

Recenzje

It is clearly written and simply illustrated. Its coverage of the relevant anatomical physiological and behavioural observations which relate to frontal lobe function is broad but well focused. I feel certain that this will become a standard `honours' text for courses which include the study of human voluntary movement.