Prefrontal lobes are key elements to modulate and control human behavior, they are certainly fundamental in the integration of cognitive, motivational and emotional information, their connection to almost all areas of the brain gives them great importance and, therefore, studies and research on them are so important. Within the prefrontal lobes, we find the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: an area whose functions are of vital importance to human behavior.
The front regions allow us to be autonomous beings, facilitating much of the control that we have over our lives, all through the so-called executive functions, functions that characterize us as human beings, through these spaces we build our identity and develop. -consciousness.
- In this way.
- They allow internal dialogue and communication with others.
- In these areas there is social cognition and therefore empathy.
- The ability to put themselves in the place of the other.
- While these areas also allow us to predict behavior.
- Of others in anticipation of their intentions.
- Or understanding aspects like lying.
The frontal lobe is divided into several zones
At the same time, it is divided into three regions:
Stuss and Knight (2002) and Tirapu and Ust-rroz (2012) highlight some of the main features of this bark:
In turn, the Burguess team (2012) conducted a review of the scientific literature on the main functions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. They concluded that most research agreed that attention, memory, language, as well as temporal preparation and sequencing are the most important functions.
Among the main functions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is attention control, which includes processes such as: task change, shared attention span, preparation for action and interference control.
“Without selective attention, experience would be a complete chaos. “- Daniel Goleman-
When it comes to memory, you have to distinguish between working or working memory and declarative memory; working or operational memory is a system that allows you to store and work with information temporarily. Baddeley (2010) states that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex would function as a “central executive”. According to the author, it has “the ability to retrieve information and keep it active while it is being manipulated”.
In turn, Stuss and Levine (2002) propose that participation in this area increases when the required information “exceeds the capacity of working memory and when it is necessary to control distractors that can interfere with the relevant information with which it is worked”.
As for declarative memory, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex appears to be involved in information search processes, helps to select the best information coding strategies and is linked to the processes associated with source memory, i. e. memories of the characteristics of an event: that, like, when, where?
Changes in source memory affect individuals’ ability to examine the source of their memories. This process is known as reality monitoring. In this way, it is possible to distinguish real or imaginary events. Baddeley says that “a deficit in this process may be responsible for proactive interference phenomena and frequent intrusions and confabulations of patients with prefrontal injuries. “
“Memory is the sentinel of the brain. ” -William Shakespeare-
Lack of verbal fluidity is related to prefrontal lesions, especially those on the left side; at the same time, narrative discourse would also be affected in terms of simplification and omission of grammatical forms when changes occur in this area.
Finally, time planning is a fundamental ability to organize activities and live day to day. Several surveys highlight the importance of front areas in planning. Arnedo, Bembibre and Trivio (2013) claim that the preparation and tracking of time is done by a constant update of information related to the time it takes to perform an action and keep it in memory until the time of its execution ?.