ABSTRACT
Neuroscience.—Localization of brain function refers to the assignment of functions to particular regions of the brain (→FUNCTION). The question of cerebral localization partially overlaps with the more fundamental problem of the relationship between body and mind (→DUALISM/MONISM, MIND). Historically, the first step was the discovery of the brain’s role in controlling the organism (ancient Egypt) (→CONTROL) and in intelligence (ancient Greece). Already by the Galenic era, investigators were trying to distribute the different aspects of mental activity across the regions of the brain. But methods were lacking. It was not until the Renaissance, with studies on anatomy, and the classical era, with the anatomical-clinical correlations observed in braindamaged patients, that reliable evidence began to surface.
