The Brain and Behavior 67
tual processes highly uncertain. More work is being done;
some investigators have studied the effects of frontal lobe
lesions in relation to other ways of measuring intelligence,
biological intelligence for example (cf. Halstead, 1947), but
most neurophysiologists are concerned with exploring the
neurophysiology of intellectual processes in different kinds
of ways. A quotation from Lashley seems appropriate at this
point. He says : “In fantasy, I have thought perhaps that my
most important contribution when I reach retirement age
would be to have my frontal lobes removed and see what I
could do without them. I have less confidence than Dr. Hal-
stead that it would preclude the production of something of
interest” (Jeffress, 1951, p. 145).
Emotional Processes
In 1900 the neurophysiologist’s knowledge about emo-
tional processes in relation to the functions of the cerebral
cortex was in some ways comparable to his knowledge of the
cortical components of the intellectual processes. Electrical
stimulation of the cortex had failed to elicit emotional re-
sponses just as it had failed to produce responses which could
be identified as intellectual. So studies of emotional processes
also began by removing various parts of the association areas
and observing behavior subsequent to the operation. How-
ever, the emotions in contrast to the “higher intellectual
operations” were never considered distinctively human; if
anything, they were a part of man’s animal nature and, as
such, the cortical regions which developed latest phylogeneti-
cally were not necessarily involved.
Neurophysiologists studying emotions following Fritsch &
Hitzig’s discovery had less grounds for attributing a central
role to the cortex than did those who were interested in in-
tellectual processes. Experiments had been completed by