Question

After suffering a brain injury by falling from a ladder, Zack's wife continues to tell the doctor that his personality has changed. He used to be fun loving and care-free, but he is now more critical and yells at his children for seemingly little reason. He seems to lack control over his emotions now. Given these symptoms, Zack is likely to have suffered damage to the ________ of his cortex.
a. occipital
b. frontal
c. temporal

Answer 1

Answer:

b. Zack is likely to have suffered damage to the frontal lobe of his cortex

Explanation:

"Personality changes in frontal lobe disorders are easy to recognize, but their evolution can be hard to predict. Both focal lesions and diffuse neurodegenerative processes may produce personality change based on interruption of prefrontal cortex or subcortical structures that comprise the frontal-subcortical circuits. Observed changes in personality have been classified by behavioral neurologists into three frontal-subcortical circuit syndromes, yet a given patient may defy this classification system by manifesting only selective features of one or more syndromes simultaneously, based on the neuro-anatomic distribution of pathology"

Reference: Chow, T W. “Personality in Frontal Lobe Disorders.” Current Psychiatry Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2000