Brain Location, Personality, and Trauma

With brain structures associated with particular emotions, can you remove/alter the structure and therefore the emotion?

Prediction: There must be a direct correlation with proper functioning and therefore structure must be intact to fully feel an emotion. Brain damage and injuries must affect personality.

Article 1:

Dahlberg, Carrie. (2011) How Embarrassing: Researchers Pinpoint Self-Consciousness in the Brain. Scientific American Mind. 22, 10. doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0911-10b

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-embarrassing

Validity: Unknown due to lack of specific case study citation, this article might lack validity. Although the resource is well respected.

The author reports recent findings that a structure has been found by cognitive researchers at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco: “Pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) [is] a boomerang-shaped region of the brain nestled behind the eyes.” A comparison was made by healthy individuals and those with neurogenerative disorders. Both were embarrassed then monitored for physical symptoms common to embarrassment such as “racing hearts, sweaty palms, squirms and grimaces.” Those with neurogenerative disorders did not manifest the symptoms as much as the healthy individuals.

The field of brain trauma has consistently shown that personality is changed post injury. I was not surprised that there would be a specific change with personality as much as that the population of neurogenerative disorders already can measurably show a difference. If those with injuries to this area feel less self-conscious, then purposeful alteration could be helpful. Of course ethics would play highly into question and I doubt it could be elective surgery. An interesting question, nevertheless!

With our aging populations, this would indicate a lack of embarrassment with these populations. I speculate whether this affects the behaviors and ethics in political arenas.

Article 2:

Robinson, R. G. and Szetela, B. (1981), Mood change following left hemispheric brain injury. Annals of Neurology, 9: 447–453. doi: 10.1002/ana.410090506

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.410090506/abstract

Validity: Due to the availability of only an abstract, I was unable to access actual studies to analyze methods. This leaves me only to question the validity of the Annals of Neurology in how they choose their articles for publication. The publication requires the following:

“Although the Annals does not advocate one particular registry, clinical trials must be registered in a database that meets the requirements set forth by the ICMJE: (1) The registry must be publicly accessible. (2) It must be open to all registrants and managed by a not-for-profit group. (3) The registry must have a mechanism to guarantee accuracy and validity of the information submitted. (4) The registry must adhere to the ICMJE mandates described in the table found on their website.” (Author requirements of Annals of Neurology)

The study addressed the population of those with brain trauma, most specifically those with left hemispheric strokes and those with traumatic brain injury. The groups were subjected to CT scans and several mood scales. Both groups were analyzed for their experiences with depression. Greater than 60% of the stroke victims experienced depression. Those with brain injury reported only at 20%. Both groups were facing the same amount of challenges with cognitive functions and daily living tasks. The brain lesions of both groups were examined. The location did not factor in as the researchers had previously thought. The study concluded: “These results suggest that depression following left hemispheric brain injury may not be a nonspecific neurological or psychological response, but rather may be a symptom of injury to specific pathways, such as the catecholamine-containing ones, as they pass through the frontal cortex.”

The authors ultimately came to focusing the results on the specific pathways being injured. Using the term symptom also indicates that it is a secondary response, not necessarily the initial injury. So my question on location and personality brings forth another question after reading the article: Is depression an emotion? It is definitely a diagnosis and the use of the word mood indicates a similarity to emotion. I did appreciate the scientific method. I would like to read more of the article to see how they sorted through the information.