Frontal lobe
Say it: FRUN-tul LOHB
The frontal lobe is the front part of each cerebral hemisphere, in charge of voluntary movement, speech production, planning, judgment and personality.
Also: frontal lobes, frontal cortex
Definition
What is the frontal lobe?
The frontal lobe is the largest of the four lobes of each cerebral hemisphere. It sits behind the forehead, beneath the frontal bone, and extends back to the central sulcus, the groove that separates it from the parietal lobe; the lateral sulcus forms its lower border with the temporal lobe.
Its rear strip, the precentral gyrus, holds the primary motor cortex, whose neurons send commands down the spinal cord to skeletal muscles of the body's opposite side. In front of it are premotor areas that plan movements, the frontal eye fields that steer the eyes, and, in most people in the left hemisphere only, Broca's area, which controls the movements needed for speech. The most forward part, the prefrontal cortex, carries out executive functions: keeping information briefly in mind, planning, weighing choices, paying attention, controlling impulses and behaving appropriately with others.
Damage to the frontal lobe can alter personality. The best-known case is Phineas Gage, a railway foreman whose left frontal lobe was pierced by an iron rod in 1848; he survived but became impulsive and unreliable. Strokes, head injuries, tumors and frontotemporal dementia can cause similar changes, along with weakness or speech problems.
Word parts
Where does the term “frontal lobe” come from?
- front-
- forehead, frontLatin frons, frontis
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Related
Terms that go with it
- Cerebral cortexThe cerebral cortex is the thin, folded layer of gray matter covering the cerebrum, where perception, movement, language and thought are processed.
- DopamineDopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter made from tyrosine that helps control movement, motivation and learning from reward.
- StrokeA stroke is a sudden loss of brain function that happens when an artery supplying the brain is blocked or bursts and bleeds.
- NeuroplasticityNeuroplasticity is the nervous system's ability to change its structure and connections in response to experience, learning, development or injury.
- Central nervous systemThe central nervous system is the brain and spinal cord, the part of the nervous system that takes in sensory input, integrates it and sends out commands.
Sources
Checked against
Written for biofideX in plain words, after checking these references:
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, 3.4 The Brain and Spinal Cord
- Queensland Brain Institute: Lobes of the brain
- NCBI MeSH: Frontal Lobe
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