The Cerebral Cortex of Man: A Clinical Study of Localization of Function

Abstract

This book is based on the Lane Medical Lectures which Penfield gave in 1947. Four hundred craniotomies performed between 1928 and 1947 presented the opportunity to stimulate various parts of the cerebral cortex with electrical currents and to record the objective (movements) and subjective effects. The results of these studies are presented clearly and with the necessary details. Objective results and interpretation are sharply separated. The investigations give a very complete description of the organization of the sensorimotor cortex. The primitive character of the movements is emphasized. They are "not more complicated than those the newborn infant is able to perform." Evidence of the existence of a secondary motor cortex is also presented. A certain muscle may show widely separated cortical foci when it is used in different functional groupings. Central overlap exists clearly in precentral and postcentral gyrus. The authors assume that the diencephalon plays an important role in