Frontal lobe
Lobus frontalis
NervousOrgansHeadLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- The largest lobe, forming the front of each hemisphere from the frontal pole back to the central sulcus and down to the lateral fissure; its flat underside (orbital surface) rests on the roofs of the orbits.
- Function
- Planning, decisions, working memory, personality and social behaviour (prefrontal cortex), voluntary movement (primary motor cortex in the precentral gyrus) and, usually on the left, speech production (Broca area).
- Size
- About 7 cm from the frontal pole to the central sulcus; roughly a third of the cortical surface
- Clinical note
- Prefrontal damage can change personality while sparing intelligence (Phineas Gage, 1848); a lesion of the left inferior frontal gyrus causes non-fluent (Broca) aphasia.