The Effects of Prefrontal Leucotomy Upon Visual Imagery and the Ability to Perform Complex Operations

Abstract

Two observations made on the post-leucotomy patient inspired the investigation to be reported in this paper. They are, first, that the post-leucotomy patient seems unable to deal with two things at once. Both Ackerly (1935) and Brickner (1939) have referred to this deficit. The second observation was that there was apparently lesser vitality of imagery after operation. A photographer in Pippard's study (1955) who had had, as he said, a “photographic memory”, could no longer connect people's faces with photographs of them he had taken in the past. A 35 year old schoolteacher in the same study completely lost her visual imagery after operation, and Brain (1954) has reported a similar deficit in two cases. Zangwill and Humphrey's report (1951) of cessation of dreaming in some patients after brain injury is possibly related to this deficit. Petrie (1952) found an increase in reversals, especially willed reversals on the Necker Cube after operation, and Gordon (1950) has presented findings showing that the control of fluctuation was significantly related to less vivid and controlled imagery.The investigation reported here was designed to examine further these two post-leucotomy deficits, and to see if they were related in any way.