PSYO 1021 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Frontal Lobe, Prefrontal Cortex, Parietal Lobe

• School: Dalhousie University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYO 1021
• Professor: Mac Kinnon Sean

Document Summary

Over the course of the vertebrate evolution, the brain went from having no cortex (fish, amphibians) to being 80% cortex (humans). 75% of the surface area lies within fissures (folds: provide landmarks for dividing the cortex into major areas. Frontal lobe cognition, recent memory, planning of movement, and some aspects of emotion. Damage to frontal lobe = apathy, don"t care. Damage = can"t plan, execute, and judge actions. Pet scan comparing: 41 murderers pleading guilty by reason of insanity & 41 healthy controls: a lack of activity in the frontal lobes of the murderers was observed. (shutting off) frontal lobes. Prefrontal lobotomy: sever connections between the prefrontal cortex and the emotion-related areas (originally by drilling holes in the skull). Immense calming effect, decreased aggression and aggravation, etc: pretty big downside loss of executive functions. Burckhardt (1890) 1st attempt, actually cut out the cortex! Moniz (1930"s) had better results, won nobel prize!