NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL SEQUELAE OF FRONTAL-LO BE DAMAGE .1. FUNCTIONAL NEUROANATOMY AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS

The frontal lobe is a large anatomically complex part of the brain, ex hibiting numerous reciprocal connections to other cortical, subcortica l and limbic structures. Therefore, damage to the frontal lobes leads to a wide range of neuropsychological symptoms such as increased perse veration tendency, apraxias, aphasias, disorders of consciousness, att ention deficits, memory problems, disorders of spatial construction ca pacity and visuoperceptive deficits. However, empirical studies show r ather divergent results. The only consistent finding is that a frontal brain damage does not lead to a substantially reduced general intelli gence. Moreover, affective disorders and personality changes have been described after frontal brain damage. In close correspondence to the research about the cognitive sequelae of frontal brain damage, targe d iscrepancies emerge between the studies dealing with the neuropsychiat ric impairments in this patient group. From an anatomical point of vie w, the relevance of limbic and subcortical structures should be regard ed more frequently in future work.