A Comparison of the Psychological Effects of Different Types of Operations on the Frontal Lobes

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Abstract
Three years ago at the last International Congress of Psychology I reported on a preliminary investigation of personality changes after the usual standard prefrontal leucotomy. This investigation was carrried out on 20 neurotic patients before and three months after the operation performed by Mr. McKissock (McKissock, 1943). An extensive group of objective personality tests were chosen to define the factors of “Neuroticism” and “Introversion” as described by Eysenck (1947), which to all intents and purposes are equivalent to Cattell's (1950) factors C and F. In addition, the following intelligence tests were used: the Wechsler Scale, Porteus Mazes, and the proverbs from the Stanford Binet. The changes found provided us with some evidence in support of the hypothesis with which the investigation had been planned. This was that as a result of this type of incision in the frontal lobe there was a decrease in “Neuroticism,” a decrease in “Introversion” and a decrease in certain aspects of intelligence (Petrie, 1949a).Since then a further 50 patients have been examined before and after operations on the frontal lobes, bringing the total to 70. Most of these were severe neurotics attending the psychiatric department of Dr. Desmond Curran at St. George's Hospital, London. Only those changes will be referred to as an alteration in personality where the probability is less than one in twenty that they could have occurred by chance.

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