"SOCIAL APPLICATIONS OF NEUROSCIENCE"
REQUIRED READINGS
(Readings with asterisks (*) are available
through Columbia e-journals)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/science/sjtitle.html
1.* Davidson, R. J., Putnam, K. M., & Larson, C. L. (2000). Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotion regulation ? a possible prelude to violence. Science, 289, 591-594.
2.* Bechara, A., Tranel, D., & Damasio, H. (2000). Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain, 123, 2189-2202.
3. Anderson, S. W., Bechara, A., Damasio, H, Tranel., D, & Damasio, A. R. (1999). Impairement of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2(11), 1032-1037.
4.* Shammi, P. & Stuss, D. T. (1999). Humour appreciation: a role of the right frontal lobe. Brain, 122, 657-666.
QUESTION FOR CRITICAL THINKING:
Your neuropsychology lab currently has two new patients, CL and SS.
CA, a 19-year old female, has been having problems with college since the ballroom dancing accident when she fell about 20 ft off a balcony and hit her head. Her dormmate claims that she has been acting more impulsively than usual and has a quick temper. Since the accident her grades also have been slipping. She has not been showing up for classes and seems to make poor choices about whether to party or to study on weeknights.
SS is a 25-year old comedy writer who was injured in a bungee jumping accident (you can fill in the gory details). Although he recovered completely, his coworkers and his audiences now complain that his jokes just aren't that funny anymore. He says it is just the "aftershock" and he will be fine.
What are all the possible explanations for the behaviors of these two patients? What neurological and behavioral tests would you perform on each to test hypotheses about the nature of their problem? Explain how the results from these tests would confirm or deny these hypotheses.
ADDITIONAL READINGS:
1. Tranel, D., Bechara, A., & Damasio, A. R. (1999). Decision making and the somatic marker hypothesis. In The New Cognitive Neurosciences (2nd Edition), edited by M. Gazzaniga, pgs. 1115-1131.
2. Anderson, S. W., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, ,D., & Damasio, A. R. (1999). Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 2(11), 1032-1037.
3. Davidson, R. J. (1998). Affective style and affective disorders: perspectives from affective neuroscience. Cognition and Emotion, 12, 307-330.
4. Davidson, J. R., & Irwin, W. (1999). The functional neuroanatomy of emotion and affective style. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3, 11-21.
5. Davidson, R. J., Abercrombie, H., Nitschke, J. B., & Putnam, K. (1999). Regional brain function, emotion and disorders of emotion. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 9, 228-234.
6. Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Hamann, S., Young, A. W., Calder, A. J., Phelps, E. A., Anderson, A., Lee, G. P., & Damasio, A. R. (1999). Recognition of facial emotion in nine individuals with bilateral amygdala damage. Neuropsychologia, 37, ,1111-1117.
7. Goel, V., & Dolan, R. J. (2001). The functional anatomy of humor: segregating cognitive and affective components. Nature Neuroscience, 4(3), 237-238.