ABSTRACT
The studies of memory disorder after neurosurgical destruction of tissue have been grouped into four types. They are: the effects of frontal leucotomy on memory function; the effects of sectioning of interhemispheric commissural fibres; the effects of frontal, temporal and hippocampal resection for treatment of conditions such as epilepsy; and the effects of ablation of other cortical and subcortical areas in the brain. Sectioning of the cerebral commissures is usually performed for one of two reasons – to alleviate uncontrollable epilepsy, or as a means of gaining access to a deep-seated cerebral lesion. Ablation of frontal tissue for the relief of epilepsy has resulted in a range of memory deficits, such as on tasks relating to recency judgements and memory for self-ordered responses. The presence of proactive interference in a verbal list learning task was assessed by M. Moscovitch in a group of patients with ablation of frontal tissue.
