Knowra Frontal lobe Frontal lobe The frontmost lobe of the cerebral cortex, extending from the frontal pole to the central sulcus. It supports executive functions, voluntary movement, speech production, and aspects of personality.
Prefrontal cortex : The anterior part of the frontal cortex, involved in planning, decision-making, working memory, and behavioral control. Its subdivisions support many of the lobe’s executive functions.
Executive functions : Higher-order cognitive processes that organize goal-directed behavior, including planning, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. These abilities depend heavily on prefrontal networks.
Phineas Gage : A nineteenth-century railroad worker who survived a penetrating brain injury that damaged much of his left frontal lobe. His reported behavioral changes made frontal injury a landmark case.
Parietal lobe : A cerebral lobe behind the frontal lobe, involved in somatosensory processing and spatial attention. The central sulcus separates its sensory emphasis from frontal action control.
Primary motor cortex : A cortical region in the precentral gyrus that controls voluntary movements, largely on the opposite side of the body. It is the frontal lobe’s main cortical output for voluntary movement.
Working memory : The limited-capacity system that temporarily maintains and manipulates information for ongoing tasks. Prefrontal circuits help keep task-relevant information available.
Frontal lobe syndrome : A pattern of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes caused by damage to frontal brain regions. It gathers clinical effects associated with frontal dysfunction.
Temporal lobe : A cerebral lobe beneath the lateral fissure, involved in hearing, memory, and aspects of language. Its language and memory functions complement the frontal lobe’s speech and control roles.
Broca's area : A region in the dominant inferior frontal gyrus associated with speech production and aspects of language processing. Its location links frontal-lobe function to producing spoken language.
Response inhibition : The ability to suppress an automatic or prepotent response when circumstances require a different action. Frontal damage can make stopping an initiated response difficult.
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