Dimensions of personality disturbance after focal brain damage: Investigation with the Iowa Scales of Personality Change

Abstract

This study employed a multistep, rational–empirical approach to identify dimensions of personality disturbance in brain-damaged individuals: (a) Five dimensions were hypothesized based on empirical literature and conceptual grounds; (b) principal components analysis was performed on the Iowa Scales of Personality Change (ISPC) to determine the pattern of covariance among 30 personality characteristics; (c) when discrepancies existed between principal components analysis results and conceptually based dimensions, empirical findings and clinical considerations were weighed to determine assignment of ISPC scales to dimensions; (d) the fit of data to the refined dimensions was assessed by examination of intercorrelations; (e) differential predictions concerning the relationship of dimensions to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage were tested. This process resulted in the specification of five dimensions: Disturbed Social Behavior, Executive/Decision-Making Deficits, Diminished Motivation/Hypo-Emotionality, Irascibility, and Distress. In accord with predictions, the 28 participants with vmPFC lesions, compared to 96 participants with focal lesions elsewhere in the brain, had significantly more Disturbed Social Behavior and Executive/Decision-Making Deficits and tended to have more Diminished Motivation/Hypo-Emotionality. Irascibility was not significantly higher among the vmPFC group, and the groups had very similar levels of Distress. The findings indicate that conceptually distinctive dimensions with differential relationships to vmPFC can be derived from the Iowa Scales of Personality Change.

Keywords:

• Apathy
• Disinhibition
• Executive function
• Factor analysis
• Prefrontal cortex

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NIH (National Institutes of Health) Grants NIDA DA022549 and NINDS NS19632, and the Kiwanis Foundation. The authors thank Joel Bruss for his assistance creating the figure of the brain.