Interestingly, the case of Phineas Gage is relevant here. As is well known, after a tamping iron spiked through his face, skull, and brain, he underwent a personality transformation. He became affectively labile, irreverent, rash in his actions, and undependable; in stark contrast to his previous personality. Damasio, Grabowski, Frank, Galaburda, and Damasio (1994) applied modern neuroimaging techniques to his skull, in order to estimate the location of his lesion. The lesion appeared to have been in his PFC, including his OFC, causing defects in decision making and the processing of emotion. Perhaps Gage's behavior changes may thus be an example of the effects of lesions in the brain system that facilitates disruptions in affect-guided planning.
