CONTRIBUTION OF THE RIGHT FRONTAL-LOBE TO THE ENCODING AND RECALL OF KINESTHETIC DISTANCE INFORMATION

Sixty-two patients with unilateral temporal- or frontal-lobe excisions and 16 normal control subjects were tested on a kinesthetic task, which required the monitoring of peripheral feedback in order to duplicate the distance of examiner-defined arm movements. Temporal lobectomy did not interfere with performance. Patients with left frontal-lobe or small right frontal-lobe excisions also performed normally, whereas those with large right frontal-lobe removals were impaired, the deficit being equal for the two arms. The results point to an important role played by the right frontal lobe in the monitoring of kinesthetic feedback both during the presentation of the movements and during the recall attempt.