Assessment of the effects of cingulate gyrus lesions by neuropsychological techniques

Abstract

Nineteen psychiatric patients undergoing bilateral cryogenic cingulate cortex lesions were extensively evaluated pre- and postoperatively with objective measures of intelligence, higher cortical functions, memory and emotional status. Following surgery the patients as a group revealed no significant deterioration of functions; rather, they demonstrated improvement that could be interpreted as the result of decline in anxiety. Investigations of individual patients revealed that the overall test performance was improved in 13 and substantially unchanged in 3, whereas 3 demonstrated some decline in performance. These results were discussed in terms of the characteristics of the changes across the various tests.