From theory to practice: The contribution of John Farquhar Fulton (1899–1960) to psychosurgery

Abstract

Introduction

John Farquhar Fulton was an American neurophysiologist and historian, who pioneered psychosurgery based on animal experiments. Together with psychologist Carlyle Jacobsen, Fulton presented the results of bilateral frontal lobe ablation in chimpanzees. This study prompted neurologist Egas Moniz and neurologist Walter Freeman to perform similar brain surgery on human subjects.

Objectives

To present the scientific papers of John Farquhar Fulton on psychosurgery.

Aims

To review available literature and to show evidence that John Farquhar Fulton made a significant contribution to the development of psychosurgery.

Methods

A biography and research papers are presented and discussed.

Results

Fulton and Jacobsen experimented with ‘delayed response tasks’ in chimpanzees. The aim was to test the animal's capability to memorize the correct location of the food. They found that after sequential ablations of the left and right frontal association cortices these memory tasks became significantly difficult for the monkeys to perform. The researchers saw parallel conclusions in clinical cases of human frontal lobe damage.

Conclusions

An investigation into the role of the limbic system is one of the crowning achievements of John Farquhar Fulton, as this has influenced even today's thinking about the role of the limbic system. We should thank Fulton for his pioneering work as modern psychosurgery has gradually evolved from irreversible ablation to reversible stimulation techniques, including deep brain stimulation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.