Chapter 1. Personality and the Brain
1.1 Personality and the Brain
Short Description
Over the past eight years, Dick’s personality has changed dramatically. His wife reports that Dick is less aware of the impact his behavior has on others, shows less empathy, and becomes agitated when things fail to go his way.
Long Description
Over the past eight years, Dick’s personality has changed dramatically. His wife reports that Dick is less aware of the impact his behavior has on others, shows less empathy, and becomes agitated when things fail to go his way. She also notes that she and her husband can no longer watch a film together on television because he cannot follow the plot.
Dick has been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease that is slowly destroying the front of his brain. Aware that doctors anticipate that his condition will worsen, he seems largely oblivious to the changes in his own personality. He is grateful that the degenerative process is occurring more slowly than the doctors predicted.
The frontal lobes underlie our individual differences. They are responsible for our temperament, our social interaction, and our personal style. Dick’s wife relates how brain damage is changing his personality and behavior. At the same time, she reports, he does not seem to care that his behavior is often socially unacceptable.
Surprisingly, Dick’s frontal lobe damage has released abilities that he did not know he possessed. His disease has been accompanied by an overwhelming urge to paint. He expresses both surprise and pleasure in this new interest. Sadly, as his brain continues to deteriorate, this new skill will also fade.
The brain, perhaps, consists of a number of interactive modules with some modules suppressing or inhibiting the functions of others. Thus, destruction of an inhibitory module may improve the function of another.