DISSOCIATION OF 2 FRONTAL-LOBE SYNDROMES BY A TEST OF VERBAL FLUENCY

Numerous researchers have attempted to localise the behavioural manife stations of frontal pathology to the regions of the frontal lobe. Thre e principal syndromes have been identified: the disinhibited syndrome associated with damage to the orbital area, the apathetic syndrome ass ociated with damage to the frontal convexity, and the akinetic syndrom e associated with damage to medial structures. This study attempted to determine if two of these syndromes could be dissociated from each ot her on the basis of a test of verbal fluency. This study used some com monly occurring clinical entities as the treatment groups. The orbital ly lesioned individuals produced higher levels of disinhibited respond ing on the test than did non-orbitally lesioned subjects. However, all pathological groups produced lower overall levels of responding than did normals on the fluency component of the test. A number of suggesti ons are made as to why this may have been the case, and some guideline s for the clinical interpretation of response patterns on the fluency test are suggested.