Somatic Markers and the Guidance of Behavior: Theory and Preliminary Testing

Abstract

Abstract The theory proposed here evolved as a response to the challenge posed by patient EVR. As has been discussed elsewhere in detail (Eslinger and Damasio, 1985), patient EVR developed profoundly abnormal personality characteristics following a bilateral ablation of ventromedial frontal cortices, which was required for the surgical treatment of a meningioma. Prior to the appearance of the tumor and to surgery (which took place when EVR was age 35), EVR was, from all possible perspectives, a normal individual.