Brain and self: toward a neuropsychodynamic model of ego autonomy and personality

Principles derived from neuropsychology can begin to be applied to the development of heuristic models of complex psychological processes and can thereby contribute to theories of personality and psychopathology. Applications of neuropsychological concepts to the problems of self-knowledge, ego autonomy, and personality integration are discussed. Special reference is made to the role of the frontal lobes in the recursive modulation of behavior and to the verbal functions of the left hemisphere in self-awareness and self-control. Caution against a narrow localizationist conceptualization of human behavior is urged, and suggestions for interdisciplinary rapproachment are offered.