Human Prefrontal Cortex: Regions and Functions

Abstract

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been referred to as the personality center in the human brain ever since Phineas Gage changed into another person after suffering damage to his PFC. Among the areas of frontal lobe, subregions of this area of the cortex perform the most important cognitive functions. All subregions are found related to important executive functions such as abstract reasoning, learning, decision-making, regulation of emotions, integrating inputs from the environment and reacting to them. Prefrontal cortex subregions perform their functions by working together with other brain regions and integrating them. Impairment in any of these subregions is connected to the majority of researched psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, because of their crucial roles in behavior and psychology. Therefore, expanding data of the PFC studies especially in humans provides a new perspective on cognition and psychiatric disorders. In this review, the human prefrontal cortex and its functions were discussed.

Cite this article as: Sarı E, Erbaş O. Human Prefrontal Cortex: Regions and Functions. JEB Med Sci 2022;3(2):134-139.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.