Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex is most likely to cause which type of deficit?

Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex is most likely to cause which type of deficit?

• A. Emotional lability
• B. Improved long-term planning
• C. Heightened empathy
• D. Superior memory

Answer: (A)

Orbitofrontal cortex continually integrates emotional signals with decision-making to regulate how we express and control our affect. When this area is damaged, the ability to modulate emotions and impulses becomes impaired, leading to emotional lability—rapid, unpredictable mood changes and difficulty keeping affect in check. This disinhibition of affect is a hallmark of OFC injury, reflecting how it normally helps dampen inappropriate or exaggerated emotional responses and guide behavior according to changing reward and social cues. The other ideas don’t fit with OFC function: improved long-term planning points to other prefrontal regions, especially the dorsolateral area responsible for sustained, goal-directed planning. Heightened empathy isn’t a typical outcome of orbitofrontal damage; in fact, social judgment and responsiveness to social cues are often disrupted rather than heightened. Superior memory isn’t primarily supported by the orbitofrontal cortex, with memory largely involving the hippocampus and related networks.

Orbitofrontal cortex continually integrates emotional signals with decision-making to regulate how we express and control our affect. When this area is damaged, the ability to modulate emotions and impulses becomes impaired, leading to emotional lability—rapid, unpredictable mood changes and difficulty keeping affect in check. This disinhibition of affect is a hallmark of OFC injury, reflecting how it normally helps dampen inappropriate or exaggerated emotional responses and guide behavior according to changing reward and social cues.

The other ideas don’t fit with OFC function: improved long-term planning points to other prefrontal regions, especially the dorsolateral area responsible for sustained, goal-directed planning. Heightened empathy isn’t a typical outcome of orbitofrontal damage; in fact, social judgment and responsiveness to social cues are often disrupted rather than heightened. Superior memory isn’t primarily supported by the orbitofrontal cortex, with memory largely involving the hippocampus and related networks.