POSTURAL REFLEXES IN PATIENTS WITH LESIONS OF THE FRONTAL LOBE

Although the phenomenon of forced grasping was described before the classic report of Wilson and Walshe 1 in 1914, these authors were the first to associate it with lesions of the frontal lobe. This clinicopathologic deduction received its first experimental confirmation in 1932. Richter and Hines 2 were able to produce a "grasp reflex" in adult monkeys by ablation of cortical area 6 of Brodmann, hereinafter referred to as the premotor zone or area. They stated: In summarizing them the lesion which results in the hanging response on the part of the heterolateral hand is the removal of area 6 anterior to the leg region of the motor cortex through to and including the medial surface. The removal of the comparable area in the opposite hemisphere brings out the reflex in the heterolateral hand as well as the homolateral. Fulton and his co-workers 3 further investigated and elucidated this problem.