Rea Antoniou, Patrick Callahan, Joel H Kramer, Bruce L Miller, Winston Chiong, Katherine P Rankin
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Moral cognition has largely been studied via dilemmas in which making a utilitarian choice causes instrumental harm (negative dimension). Studies of utilitarianism link this behavior with socioemotional unresponsiveness. However, there is a positive dimension of utilitarianism in which one sacrifices the good of oneself or close others for the overall welfare. We measured utilitarian choices multidimensionally in a patient with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), incorporating dilemmas accounting for negative and positive dimensions. Despite socioemotional deficits our patient was highly utilitarian in the positive, dimension of utilitarianism. This case study challenges the tendency to automatically associate bvFTD with antisocial tendencies.
期刊介绍:
Neurocase is a rapid response journal of case studies and innovative group studies in neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology that speak to the neural basis of cognition. Four types of manuscript are considered for publication: single case investigations that bear directly on issues of relevance to theoretical issues or brain-behavior relationships; group studies of subjects with brain dysfunction that address issues relevant to the understanding of human cognition; reviews of important topics in the domains of neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology; and brief reports (up to 2500 words) that replicate previous reports dealing with issues of considerable significance. Of particular interest are investigations that include precise anatomical localization of lesions or neural activity via imaging or other techniques, as well as studies of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, since these diseases are becoming more common as our population ages. Topic reviews are included in most issues.