72 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
lobotomy the results reported became more varied. Some pa-
tients were helped; for others serious disturbances followed
the operation; for others no noticeable differences in be-
havior could be detected. At the present neurophysiologists,
neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, and psychologists are by no
means agreed about the appropriateness of the operation or
the significance of its effects.
Freeman & Watts (1950) were among the first to perform
frontal lobotomies in this country. Summarizing the results
from studies of patients on whom they had operated over a
thirteen year period, Freeman & Watts reported that about
45 per cent have shown good improvement, 33 per cent only
faff, while 19 per cent did poorly. On the basis of their re-
sults they believe that the frontal lobes are concerned with
the future, providing “foresight and insight” for the normal
person. When the frontal lobes are damaged as in lobotomy,
inertia, loss of self-consciousness, and lack of ambition result,
and the patient’s behavior may be characterized by euphoria,
aggressiveness, and poor judgment. Freeman & Watts are
convinced of the efficacy of the operation in psychiatric
cases and believe that their results provide evidence about
the functions of the frontal lobes in emotional processes.
Other studies of the effects of surgical procedures for psy-
chiatric patients have been less confident about the value of
the operation and its relevance for understanding the frontal
lobes. Carney Landis, reporting for the Columbia-Greystone
Project cited earlier, stated that “there is no clear-cut evi-
dence of a consistent or uniform personality change which re-
sulted from any particular variety of topectomy (removal of
tissue from certain parts of the frontal lobes) in which the
operation could clearly be said to be solely responsible for
the change. The amelioration from psychosis and social im-
provement which occurred in many of the operatees is easiest