The Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, Evolution, and the Origin of Insight

The prefrontal cortex makes up almost a quarter of the human brain. The Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex presents a new theory about its fundamental function. Written by two leading brain scientists, it is an important contribution to our understanding of the evolution and functioning of the human brain.

Richard E. Passingham, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience,, University of Oxford, UK,Steven P. Wise, Olschefskie Institute for the Neurobiology of Knowledge, USA,Richard E. Passingham, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford, UK,Steven P. Wise, Olschefskie Institute for the Neurobiology of Knowledge, USA

Richard Passingham did his undergraduate degree at Oxford University (BA, 1966), and then did a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology.at the Institute of Psychiatry in London (M.Sc. 1967). Hthen undertook his Ph.D. at the University of London (1971). Afterwards he returned to Oxford University as a Research Officer on a MRC Programme Grant. He was made a University Lecturer in the Department of Experimental Psychology in 1976 and a Fellow of Wadham College in the same year. He was made an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the MRC Cyclotron Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital in 1991 and an Honorary Principal at the Wellcome Centre for Neuroimaging in London in 1996. In 1993 he became an ad hominem Reader in Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford University and became a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in 1997. Richard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009 and Fellow of the American Psychological Society in 2010.


Steven P. Wise received a B.A. in biology from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biology from Washington University in St. Louis. After a brief period of postdoctoral study, he had a 30-year career as a neurophysiologist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr Wise served as the Chief of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Chief of the Section on Neurophysiology of the Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience.