Frontal Lobes and Episodic Memory
The idea that the frontal lobes are implicated in memory has a long and controversial history (Luria, 1980; Teuber, 1964). Damage to the frontal lobes can produce memory impairment and sometimes even severe memory loss, but it has proved difficult to specify the nature of the disorder. The scholarly consensus now holds that frontal-lobe damage does not lead to memory deficits in consolidation, storage, and retention of newly acquired information (Petrides, 2000; Moscovitch and Winocur, 2002). Such disorders, which in their most extreme form lead to a profound global amnesia, are associated with damage to the medial temporal lobes, particularly the hippocampus and related structures, and to midline thalamic nuclei (Milner, 1966).
Working-With-Memory
Memory loss following frontal-lobe lesions, on the other hand, involves organizational or strategic aspects of memory that are necessary for devising strategies for encoding, for guiding search at retrieval, for monitoring and verifying memory output, for placing retrieved memories in their proper spatial and temporal contexts, and for using mnemonic information to direct thought and plan future actions. In other words, the frontal lobe's memory functions are consistent with its functions in other domains. It helps organize the raw material that is made available by other structures so that thought and behavior can be goal-directed.
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