The neurology of social cognition

Impairments of emotion and social behaviour are often observed after damage to the ventromedial (VM) region of the prefrontal cortex \[Brodmann areas (BA) 25, lower 24, 32, and medial aspect of 11, 12 and 10\] (Fig. 1). Previously well‐adapted individuals become unable to observe social conventions and decide advantageously on personal matters. Their ability to express emotion and to experience feelings in appropriate social situations becomes compromised. Studies aimed at understanding the nature of these deficits revealed that impaired ‘judgement and decision‐making’ is at the heart of the problem (Bechara et al ., 2002). Specifically, evidence suggests that the VM region serves as a link between (i) a certain category of event based on memory records in high order association cortices and (ii) effector structures that produce an emotional response, and also (iii) the substrates of feeling. During judgement/decision‐making, category events are brought to ‘working memory’, which includes several processes (Baddeley, 1992). However, maintaining an active representation of memory over a delay period involves the dorsolateral sector of the prefrontal cortex (Fuster, 1997). Effector structures that mediate the emotional response are in the brainstem, whereas neural representations of feelings are thought to involve the insula, surrounding parietal cortices, and the cingulate (Damasio, 1994). Fig. 1 A BA map with its different areas designated by numbers. Courtesy of Hanna Damasio. Thus judgement/decision‐making depends …