Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 



Vol. 12 SEPTEMBER. 1924 No. 3 



STUDIES OF CEREBRAL FUNCTION IN LEARNING 



I 



V. THE RETENTION OF MOTOR HABITS AFTER DESTRUCTION OF 

 THE SO-CALLED MOTOR AREAS IN PRIMATES * 



K. S. LASHLEY. Ph.D. 



MINNEAPOLIS 



Since the area was first described by Fritsch and Hitzig, 1 the 

 function of the electrostimulable cortex of the cerebrum has been the 

 subject of almost continuous controversy. The experiments were 

 immediately called in question through criticisms of the technic by 

 Dupuy, 2 Sanderson,' Carville and Duret, 4 and others, or by abstruse 

 metaphysical deductions such as were advanced by Hermann 5 who 

 objected to the motor area as violating the "unity of mind." The work 

 of Ferrier, 6 Carville and Duret and Hitzig soon established the fact 

 of the electrical excitability of limited areas of the cortex, but immedi- 

 ately a new question arose. Fritsch and Hitzig had considered the 

 excitable zone as motor, if we may translate the expression, "entry of 

 single psychic functions into material" by such a term. In this they 

 were followed by Carville and Duret, who described the motor dis- 

 turbances following lesions in the area as "paralysie de la motricite 

 volontaire corticale." Ferrier also considered the area as motor. But 

 most of the early work had been done with dogs, and the sensory 

 disturbances which appear in this animal after ablation of the stim- 

 ulable area were emphasized by Schifr, 7 Nothnagel, 8 Munk 9 and 



* From the Department of Psychology of the University of Minnesota. 



1. Fritsch, G., and Hitzig, E. : Ueber die elektrische Erregbarkeit des 

 Grosshirns, Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol. 1870, pp. 300-332. 



2 Dupuy, E. : Experiment sur les fonctions moteur du cervean, Compt. 

 rend. soc. de biol., 1888, pp. 1025-1027. 



3. Sanderson, J. B.: Note on the Excitation of the Surface of the Cerebral 

 Hemispheres by Induced Currents, Proc. Roy. Soc. 22:368-370, 1874. 



4. Carville, C, and Duret, H. : Sur le fonctions des hemispheres cerebraux, 

 Arch. d. Physiol. 7:352-490, 1875. 



5. Hermann, L. : Ueber elektrische Reizversuche an der Grosshirnrinde, 

 Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol. 10:77-88, 1875. 



6. Ferrier. D. : The Functions of the Brain, London, 1876. 



7. Schiff, M. : Untersuchungen iiber die motorischen Fnnctionen des Gross- 

 hirns, Arch. f. exper. Path. u. Pharmocol. 3:171-179, 1875. 



8. Nothnagel, H. : Experimentelle Untersuchungen iiber die Fnnctionen des 

 Gehirns. Arch. f. path. Anat. u. Physiol. 57:184-227, 1873. 



9. Munk, H.: Ueber die Funktionen der Grosshirnrinde, Berlin, 1890. 



