Elliot’s behaviour

Further observations of Elliot’s behavior led the author to a surprising revelation.

As we continue on our journey to unravel the mystery of practical reasoning, we now have three suspects, instead of just one: the VPC, the limbic system, and the somatosensory cortex. What do these three parts of the brain have in common? To answer this question, let’s go back to the story of Elliot.

Like Phineas Gage, after suffering damage to his VPC, Elliot was unable to make good decisions, stick to goals, or carry out plans. But unlike Gage, Elliot was still alive, so the author could study him further, come up with a scientific hypothesis, and test it.

As has happened many times before in the history of science, the author was led to his hypothesis by the combination of an “aha” moment and a hunch. In retrospect, it seemed obvious, but it took some time to realize.

Here’s what happened. During their many interview sessions together, the author noticed something strange about the way Elliot told the narrative of his life. It was a sad story, full of personal disasters – losing his job, his savings, and his marriage. Elliot described all this in great detail. But in their many hours of conversation, Elliot never once displayed even a hint of emotion: no sadness over his misfortunes, no annoyance with the author’s never-ending questions. Nothing.

And this wasn’t just the way Elliot behaved in the laboratory. The author talked to people who knew him, and they said he acted the same way in his everyday life. His emotions were almost always flat. Occasionally, he’d show flashes of anger, but they’d quickly disappear, and then he’d go right back to neutral as if nothing had happened.

After making these observations, the author conducted an experiment in which he showed Elliot a series of pictures that would normally evoke strong emotions – photos of houses burning, people getting injured, and so on. At this point, Elliot came right out and said it himself: he no longer felt emotions the way he used to.

And it wasn’t just Elliot. Remember the other 12 patients with VPC damage who have been studied by the author and his colleagues? In addition to their diminished practical reasoning abilities, all of them showed a flatness of emotion.

So we now have another correlation – and with it, a new clue.