ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the current thinking about the functions of the frontal lobes within a historical perspective, beginning with a consideration of Gage's misfortune and following the threads of its implications into modern neuropsychology. In locating the mentalistic concepts of self-awareness, self-monitoring, and excecutive functioning in the mechanisms of the prefrontal cortex, modern neuropsychology envisages what in Cartesian terms would be an unthinkable marriage of body and mind. A pervasive notion in cognitive psychology is that of the regulation of some processes by other higher processes, operating in a more managerial role. The working memory theory has become highly influential in cognitive psychology. Ferrier suggested that the role of the prefrontal cortex was the inhibition of motor responses. Luria followed a research strategy combining the clinical and psychometric approaches. According to Luria, the prefrontal cortex is concerned with the analysis and synthesis of the impulses of motor processes.
