ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the connectional relation of the frontal lobes with other areas of the brain. It offers a historical review of research on frontal lobe function in monkeys, cats, and dogs, using delayed-response and delayed-alternation tasks. The book shows that principalis cortex plays a role in the formation of self-regulating kinesthetic processes that guide its subsequent choice responses, and that the solution to the riddle of the monkey's delayed-response deficit lies in the principalis cortex. It also focuses on the role of the prefrontal cortex in temporal processing. The book reviews evidence from single-unit studies that substantial numbers of cells in prefrontal cortex are attuned to two or more events in a task, and that cells with widely different properties may be seen in close proximity to each other.
