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In 1848, Phineas Gage has an iron rod blown through one or both of his frontal lobes, survives, but is no longer the man he once was. Thus begins the trajectory from a single case study to a modern day explosion of research examining the multidimensional concept of executive functions (EF) and the frontal lobes. After Googling the term "executive functions," I quickly (in fact, .33 seconds later to be exact) discovered 39,000,000 matches for the term in the search engine, whereas "neuropsychology" only yielded 6,110,000 matches. While there may not be 39 million definitions of EF, there is certainly a plethora of constructions of this concept ranging from the unitary and obsolete "frontal lobe syndrome" to the classic Lezak, "capacities that enable a person to engage successfully in independent, purposeful, self-serving behaviors" (Lezak, 1995, p. 42, cited on p.124 of this volume). In the edited volume, Executive Functions and the Frontal Lobes, Vicki Anderson, Rani Jacobs, and Peter Anderson provide a thorough and well-written examination of the topic in all of its complexities and nuances from definition to assessment, developmental course, and dysfunction through rehabilitation.
It is evident from the beginning of this volume that the goal of the editors was to present a sophisticated, evidence-based discussion of EF as a multidimensional concept with linkages to the frontal lobes, but also with extra-frontal connections. The note by the series editor, Linas Bieliauskas, and the preface by the editors nicely orient the reader to the topics of discussion and the organization of the book, which is systematically arranged into four broad sections: A Developmental-Theoretical Framework for Executive Function, Assessment of Executive Function across the Lifespan, Impairments of Executive Function across the Lifespan, and Rehabilitation of Impairments in Executive Function.
Throughout the...