engleski

Lesions of left basal ganglia and insula structures impair executive functions but not emotion recognition: A case report

We present a case of 21-year-old right-handed male who three years ago presented to the Emergency Department with right extremities numbness and later developed choreoathetoid movements of the right arm. His mental status was normal. Brain MRI done at the time of his admission to the hospital showed an acute left cerebral hemisphere infarction involving part of the basal ganglia (putamen, caudate nucleus head, globus pallidus and claustrum), as well as left insula. After a month his motor function recovered completely. On a follow-up visit done three months after hospital discharge his neurological examination was unremarkable. We aimed to reexamine Calder et al.’s (2000) conclusion that lesions of the left insula result with impaired recognition of facial expression of disgust and to test the role of basal ganglia in cognitive and executive functions. Results showed that patient’s ability to recognize facial emotional expressions was intact in spite of unilateral injury of the left insula and basal ganglia. Also, he showed preserved intellectual function in general, but experienced difficulties on subsets of the executive functions.

basal ganglia ; insula ; emotion recognition ; executive function

The research was conducted within the project "Personality, emotions and social processes as determinants of health outcomes" which is funded by the University of Rijeka.