The frontal lobes
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199655946.003.0003
The frontal lobes are crucial in understanding our identity as human beings, our drives, our ambitions, and our essence. Their complex and extended neural connections enable a wide range of functions, including abstract reasoning, mental flexibility, inhibitory control, problem-solving, multitasking, memory, theory of mind, and empathy, among others. The present chapter seeks to provide a succint yet thorough review of studies exploring different frontal lobe processes. It looks at general aspects of frontal lobe evolution, reviewing basic neuroanatomy, its underlying neurochemistry, and understanding cortical and subcortical circuits. The major cognitive functions that depend strongly on the frontal lobes are explored while summarizing contemporary theories and models of frontal lobe functioning, including the multiple demand system and adaptive coding model, the attentional control model, the somatic marker hypothesis, and the temporal organization model.
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