Introduction
The orbitofrontal cortex is found to be associated with the processing of cognitive information related to decision making. This is, responding to the reward or punishment outcomes experienced by an individual after making a decision and, responding to the expectation of facing such an outcome later. This region of the brain is involved in the regulation of emotions during the process of decision making thereby causing an individual to engage in certain social behaviours. This essay will briefly discuss the associations between the decision making process of social behaviour and its relation to emotion, empathy and inhibition.
Orbitofrontal cortex and its location
The above image (The Orbitofrontal cortex, 2014) shows the location of the orbitofrontal cortex a. medially and b. ventrally.
The medial dorsal nucleus of the thalamus is situated in areas 4 and 6, that is, located in the front of the motor and premotor cortices of the frontal lobe. The medial part of this nucleus (magnocellular part) projects to the ventral medial orbital portion of the prefrontal lobe (Kringelbach, 2005). This particular portion of the prefrontal cortex is called the orbitofrontal cortex of the brain and, it consists of Brodmann area 10, 11 and 47. It receives inputs from the ventral visual stream, and, inputs from the taste, somatosensory and olfactory receptors (Kringelbach, 2005).
The orbitofrontal cortex is associated with the limbic system including the amydala, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Association to the limbic system includes the connection to insular cortex, the parahippocampal regions and the hippocampus (Cavada et al., 2000). The limbic system influences the control of behaviour and emotions in an individ...
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... & Mishkin, 1970; Roberts & Wallis, 2000 ; Rolls, 2000). Therefore it can be concluded that lesion to this area of the brain could result in disinhibited behaviour affecting social behaviour.
Conclusion
There is evidence that the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with emotions and decision making and, lesion to this area may cause severe impairments in the process of using emotions to make decisions before carrying out certain tasks. Therefore, patients with orbitofrontal damage may suffer from the inability to make appropriate choices by acting impulsively. Moreover, they may ignore the consequences of their behaviours as they will not be able to understand the thoughts and emotions experienced by other people. Finally, they may engage in disinhibited social behaviours such as obsessive gambling, hypersexuality, drugs and alcohol abuse and excessive swearing.
Raine, A., Lencz, T., Bihrle, S., LaCasse, L., & Colletti, P. (2000). Reduced prefrontal gray matter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 57, 119-127.
Prefrontal Cortex The prefrontal cortex is the most anterior portion of the frontal lobe. It responds mostly to stimuli signaling the need for movement, however it is also responsible for many other specialized functions. It receives information from all sensory systems and can integrate a large amount of information (Kalat 2004). Studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for working memory. Working memory is defined as "the information that is currently available in memory for working on a problem" (Anderson 2005).
The frontal lobe is located in the most anterior part of the brain hemispheres. It is considered responsible for much of the behavior that makes possible stable and adequate social relations. Self-control, planning, judgment, the balance of individual versus social needs, and many other essential functions underlying effective social intercourse are mediated by the frontal structures of the brain. (3) Antonio and Anna Damasio, two noted Portuguese neurologists and researchers working in the University of Iowa, have been investigating in the last decade the neurological basis of psychopathy.
During the adolescents, stage evidence shows that teens emotions height during this age and therefore they become more emotionally active. This is due to the development of brain centers and signaling molecules of the brain's reward system. This is how the brain encourages or motivates behavior with the feeling of pleasure. “ These age-related changes shape how much different parts of the brain are activated in response to experience and in the terms of behavior, the urgency and intensity of emotional reactions.” As the brain matures throughout the teen years many of them face the challenge of emotional change for the first time. The parts of the brain that deals with emotions and allows for
Juarez, M., Kiehl, K., & Calhoun, V. (2013). Intrinsic limbic and paralimbic networks are associated with criminal psychopathy. Human Brain Mapping, 34(8), 1921-1930. doi:10.1002/hbm.22037
The dorsal portion of the diencephalon comprises three major parts: the epithalamus, the dorsal thalamus (known as the motor thalamus), and the ventral thalamus. The epithalamus consists of the pineal body, the habenular nuclei, the stria medullaris, and the associated paraventricular nuclei. All of these nuclei play key roles in limbic functions. The dorsal and ventral thalamus comprises many nuclear groups that receive inputs from several brain structures and transmits afferent signals to specific areas of the cerebral cortex, except for the RTN which projects only to other thalamic nuclei and brainstem {Jones, 2002, Thalamic organization and function after Cajal;Jones, 2007, The Thalamus}. In general, most thalamic nuclei can be classified
The premotor cortex (Brodmann’s Area 6) is located in the frontal cortex of the primate brain and lies anterior to the central sulcus and the primary motor cortex (M1) with the overarching functions of planning possible movement trajectories, spatial and sensory guidance of movements, as well as comprehending the actions of others. The premotor cortex receives afferent and sends efferent signals to the primary motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, and parietal cortex. In addition, it also sends projections to the spinal cord, making up a portion of the corticospinal tract, as well as to the striatum and thalamus in the brain (Purves & Williams, 2001). The premotor cortex can be divided into both medial-lateral functional divisions and the lateral premotor cortex can be subdivided into ventral-dorsal areas. The majority of the lateral premotor cortex is dedicated to understanding guided movements whereas the medial portion of the premotor cortex is focused on internal, self-initiated movements (Purves & Williams, 2001). While both the ventral and dorsal premotor cortices are active directly prior to a goal-oriented movement, they both respond to particular stimuli. For example, the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) receives a variety of visual and somatosensory inputs and is implicated in decision-making of the best movement, and it is also selectively activated to
If I were to select a part of my brain to damage, I would choose the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of the Limbic System which is the boarder between the oldest and newest portions of the brain. The amygdala is linked to the emotions fear, rage, and aggression. It has been removed from many ill-tempered animals and has seemed to make them more mellow. I find myself to have a very short temper. I can get upset at the slightest sight or sound. I get especially aggravated when I hear someone chew. It makes me dislike the person for a week. If the amygdala was damaged, I may become more content. The book suggests that damage of the amygdala may not completely eliminate fear, rage, or aggression. Nevertheless, the amygdala does have some sort
Pinel, J., Treit, D., and Rovner, L. (1977). Temporal lobe aggression in rats. Science, 197.
The majority of the brain areas affected are in the limbic system. The limbic system is associated with emotional behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. Your sense of smell is the first and most primitive sense you use when you are born. It helps newborns to recognize their parents. Our sense of smell is intertwined with our memories formed in our
In his influential paper “Feeling and Thinking. Preferences need no Inferences” (Zajonc, 1980), he argued for the idea that affect is “precedent to the intellective qualities and elements of experience” (para. 1), and in line with this he put forward several hypothesis to exhibit the supremacy of affect in information processing - in its independence, primacy and automaticity - over cognition. He collected and presented a host of empirical findings to support his argument. Among those, the mere-exposure effect - the experimental evidence for subject’s preferences, or liking, by merely being exposed to certain stimuli without the subjects’ conscious (and thus assumedly cognitive) processing of them, was cited as the supporting evidence for preferential processing of affect before cognition (or “feeling without knowing” as described by Zajonc) (Zajonc, 1980). He also based his argument on the biological assumption that distinctive brain area, specifically the locus coeruleus, was responsible for the processing of affective information, and thus to complete his argument for the independence of the emotion apart from
Human consciousness is driven by simple electrical pulses and varying measures of specified chemicals. Neuroscience at the micro level of psychological studies precisely how the chemistry of the brain affects a person’s mood or behavior. However, ambiguity is a strong catalyst for creativity. There are many times that one simply cannot comprehend what another person is thinking. Though a person’s actions may be reliant upon previous experiences, a neurological approach is to hypothesize that personal and social behavior is entirely dependent on the careful chemical balance within a patient’s nervous system. A fact well known in the medical world is that many minor social or mental disorders are simply an imbalance of the chemicals found
It contains the primary motor cortex and the prefrontal cortex, which extend from the central sulcus to the anterior of the brain. The posterior part of the frontal lobe is the precentral gyrus which is specialized in the control of fine movements. The very most anterior portion of the frontal lobe is the prefrontal cortex. The neurons in this area have up to sixteen times as many dendritic spines as neurons in the occipital lobe or primary visual cortex. As a result, the prefrontal cortex is able to integrate a great deal of information (Kalat, 2004).
The role of the frontal cortex in social cognition and decision making is now well-recognised; in the 19th century, however, neurologists were only just beginning to realise these connections. Gage’s injuries provided some of the first evidence that the frontal cortex was involved in personality and behaviour.
This lobe is also located in the cerebral hemisphere. The parietal lobe is focused on comprehension, language, reading. It also monitors all sensory comprehension. The pariental lobe has two parts. The sensory cortex and motor cortex. The sensory cortex, is located in the front part of the parietal lobe, it recieves information from the spinal cord about the different positions of various parts and how they move. This area of the brain affects area 's like sense of touch and relays if there is pain or pressure to different parts of the body. The motor cortex 's main function is to monitor and control movement of the body. It is located in the top, middle portion of the