Frontal lobe
Frontal Lobe
The Frontal Lobe (/ˈfrʌntəl loʊb/; from Latin frontalis, "pertaining to the forehead") is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The frontal lobe is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned in front of the parietal lobe and above and in front of the temporal lobe.
Function
The frontal lobe is involved in a variety of functions, including motor skills such as voluntary movement, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgement, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior. The frontal lobe is the same part of the brain that is responsible for executive functions such as self-control, planning, reasoning, and abstract thought.
Anatomy
The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons in the cerebral cortex. The dopamine system is associated with reward, attention, short-term memory tasks, planning, and motivation. Dopamine tends to limit and select sensory information arriving from the thalamus to the fore-brain. A report from the National Institute of Mental Health says a gene variant that reduces dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex is related to poorer performance and inefficient functioning of that brain region during working memory tasks, and to slightly increased risk for schizophrenia.
Related Terms
- Cerebral cortex: The outer layer of the cerebrum, composed of folded gray matter, playing a key role in memory, attention, perception, cognition, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness.
- Cerebral hemisphere: One of the two regions of the brain that are delineated by the body's median plane, the other being the left hemisphere.
- Parietal lobe: One of the four major lobes of the brain, the parietal lobe plays a key role in sensory perception and integration, including the management of taste, hearing, sight, touch, and smell.
- Temporal lobe: The temporal lobe is involved in processing sensory input into derived meanings for the appropriate retention of visual memory, language comprehension, and emotion association.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Frontal lobe
- Wikipedia's article - Frontal lobe
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