The amygdala evokes highly personal emotional memories and the loss of this function causes hypo-emotionality, a general lack of emotion when presented with different stimuli. Evidence suggests that damage to the amygdala and the limbic system (specifically the amygdala-hypothalamus pathway) results in the loss of the core ability to recognize and interpret the mental states of others, a vital ability in social interactions. Bilateral amygdala damage has also been associated with social unresponsiveness, leading to an avoidance of social interactions and a preference for isolation from their own species. Those with social-emotional agnosia have difficulty discerning the emotional meaning and significance behind objects, which causes a loss of fondness and familiarity. Symptoms can include reduced aggression, fearfulness, competitiveness, and social dominance. The amygdala dysfunction causes the inability to select appropriate behaviors in a specific social context. It can be accompanied by right or bilateral temporal lobe damage. Typically this agnosia is only found in people with bilateral amygdala damage that is damage to amygdala regions in both hemispheres of the brain. Social-emotional agnosia is mainly caused by abnormal functioning in a particular brain area called the amygdala. Children with this agnosia have also been found to have hyperorality, an increased tendency to investigate objects with their mouths, which is also a common symptom of Klüver-Bucy syndrome. In human children, deficits in imitating and responding to peer social interactions have been observed. Maternal behavior is also severely affected, causing mothers to fail to recognize their children as their own. People with social-emotional agnosia may distance themselves from interacting with other people and prefer isolation. This limits the ability to appropriately interact with familiar people, potentially severely damaging interpersonal relationships. Damage to the right temporal occipital region in humans has been associated with the inability to recognize the faces of loved ones, friends, and pets (considered a form of prosopagnosia).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |