Description

An invitation from the Editors to contribute to 'Studies of Brain Functions' with a monograph on the parietal lobe of- fers me an opportunity to present in a concentrated form my studies on this part of the brain from a period of some- what over a decade. The parietal lobe, notably its posterior part, is a very complex neural system whose functions I have been able to study only superficially and without ex- tensive coverage of all its parts. Therefore I did not want to limit myself entirely to my own work but found the task of writing more interesti'ng by including sections reviewing rel- evant literature. Thus Chapter III dealing with the primary somatosensory cortex and Chapters IX, X, and XI concerning area 7 describe work done in my laboratory. Chapter VIII describes microelectrode work on area 7 and covers both the work of my group and that of others working on this area. Chapters II and IV to VII are based on closely related anatomical, physiological and clinical studies performed by others, and Chapter XII is a personal attempt at a synthesis of the functions of the parietal lobe. Thus this monograph is neither a strict review of all important works on the parietal lobe nor is it limited only to my own studies and those of my collaborators. Instead it attempts to be a balanced ex- position of both aspects promoting, hopefully, a synthetic view of the primate parietal lobe.