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Related Experiment Videos

Frontal lobe functioning in man: the riddle revisited.

S Della Sala1, C Gray, H Spinnler

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK. sergio@abdn.ac.uk

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology : the Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists
|November 1, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Neuropsychological tests for frontal lobe function show high correlations, suggesting a general factor underlies performance. This supports the concept of executive functioning, rather than detailed fractionation of frontal lobe abilities.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuropsychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neurology

Background:

  • The frontal lobes are crucial for executive functions.
  • Neuropsychological tests are used to assess frontal lobe function.
  • Debate exists on whether frontal lobe functions are unified or fractionated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the underlying structure of performance on traditional "frontal" neuropsychological tests.
  • To determine if a general factor underlies performance on these tests.
  • To evaluate the concept of executive functioning in relation to frontal lobe lesions.

Main Methods:

  • Forty-eight patients with single frontal lobe lesions were administered 10 widely used neuropsychological tests.
  • Factor analysis was used to analyze the intercorrelations among the tests.

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  • Correlations between "frontal" tests and other tests were compared.

    • Main Results:

    • All correlations among the 10 tests were positive and significant.
    • Frontal tests showed higher correlations with other frontal tests than non-frontal tests.
    • Factor analysis of "frontal" tests yielded a single factor (53% variance).
    • Factor analysis of all tests yielded a strong general factor (43% variance), with one test showing low loading.

    Conclusions:

    • The findings support a general factor of executive functioning mediated by the frontal lobes.
    • The results do not support abandoning the concept of executive functioning in favor of fractionation.
    • Neuropsychological assessment of frontal lobe function may benefit from considering a unified executive function construct.