Basic HTML Version
48
DONALD
R. ROBERTS
Lashley (1937) suggested that temporal phenomena in behavior, such
as the serial timing of activities, are dependent upon spatial relations
(a topographical representation) in the
nervous
system, and proposed a
cortical locus of time discrimination. Penfield (1952a) describes tem-
poral aberrancies, disorientations in the judgment of time relations, ac-
companying subictal focal epilepsies
in
the temporal lobe, along with
loss of memory for the period of seiaure-a
symptom which led to the
description of the “amnestic” type of epilepsy. He has provoked vivid,
serial hallucinatory effects,
of
the kind sometimes called ‘‘revivifica-
tions,” in various sensory modalities by stimulating temporal cortex
after facilitation by epileptic discharge (Penfield and Rasmussen, 1950
;
Penfield, 1952b), and has maintained the view that the recording of
memories depends upon activity of the temporal lobes and adjacent
areas.
The prefrontal regions of the cortex have often been associated with
purposive activity ( B e g ,
p.
341)
;
though not easy
to
describe lin-
guistically, this function might be called the “discrimination of gross
consequences of activity,” or projectively as “intents.”
A
type of au-
tomatism is associated with disturbance of the frontal and temporal
lobes in focal epilepsy (Penfield, 1952a)
;
these two regions are inti-
mately connected by the fibers of the uncinate fasciculus.
Papez (1937) proposed the
gyrus
cinguli
as
part of a mechanism
to
elaborate the function of central emotion and participate in emotional
expression. Sloan and Jasper (1950a) found that stimulation of anterior
limbic cortex produces any of the three effects of attenuation, augmenta-
tion, and activation of electrical activity in all areas of cortex, and
as-
signed a regulatory function to the anterior cingulate
gyrus.
Sloan and
Kaada (1953) found a diversity of effects,some of prolonged duration,
and including vocalization and motor effects, which led them to favor
the association of this area with emotional expression. Kennard (1955)
reported emotional aberrancies (rage and purring unconnected with
environmental stimuli) in cats with anterior cingular ablation; a
syn-
drome of confusion, catalepsy, and affective ambivalence or disorienta-
tion
developed, which was not duplicated with temporal or frontal abla-
tion. Ward (1948) likewise found loss of affective discrimination with
ablation of the anterior
gyms
in monkeys; stimulation of the area
evoked vocalization and facial movements. Fear, rage, emotional adap-
tation, vocalization, facial movements, motor
arrests
and activity,
arousal-all
these
affective
responses
have
been
experimentally shown
to be connected with activity of the anterior cingdate
region.
The orbitofrontal, anterior temporal, and anterior cingulate regions
might be said
to
constitute an “anterior cortical complex.” They are
Downloaded by [University of Macedonia] at 02:09 29 March 2012