Table 2.
VMPC patient social emotion data
| Subject | SCRs | Empathy | Embarrassment | Guilt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Impaired | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | Impaired | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Impaired | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Impaired | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Impaired | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Impaired | 3 | 3 | 3 |
SCRs, skin conductance responses to emotionally charged socially significant stimuli (for example, pictures of social disasters, mutilations, nudes), using methods previously described12. The same SCR experiment was performed in ten of twelve BDC patients, and all ten demonstrated normal SCRs to emotionally charged pictures. A clinical neuropsychologist blind to the hypotheses of the current study rated each VMPC patient’s demonstrated capacity for empathy, embarrassment and guilt in his or her personal life. The rating used a four-point scale denoting severity of impairment, where 0 = normal, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate and 3 = severe. Ratings were based on data derived from spouse or family member reports in the Iowa Rating Scales of Personality Change29 and from data from clinical interviews. Both of these sources provide direct observations about the patient’s basic and social emotions, and include questions about whether the patient experiences and manifests emotions such as sadness, anxiety, empathy, embarrassment and guilt.