Patient Methodologies

for the study of personality and social processes - Jennifer Beer

  • Less expensive, more accessible, than neuroimaging
  • Wider range of paradigms possible, without physical & temporal limits of neuroimaging
  • Rely on brain damage resulting from trauma or disorders
  • Categorization - how to distinguish the patient and control populations correctly
  • Capability - modifications necessary to make sure the patients can complete the experiments
  • Comorbidity - confounding conditions associated with the patient population
  • Availability - some patient populations are simply rare
  • Control - what types of control populations are needed?
  • orbitofrontal damage
    • poor self-regulation skills
    • frequently disclose too much info, assume others share their perspective,
    • resolve interpersonal dillemas poorly
    • impairs self-conscious emotions, but not other emotions
  • amygdala damage
    • can't recognize emotive faces, but can make emotive faces
  • Brain injury from trauma, stroke, or dementia
    • (rare) high-speed collision can cause orbitofrontal damage, brain mashing against eye-socket ridges
    • (rare) frontotemporal dementia
    • Altzheimer dementia
  • Depression
    • dysfunction in limbic areas
  • Autism spectrum disorders
    • affects limbic structures
    • theory of mind typically impaired