Decision-making and impulse control after frontal lobe injuries

Decision-making impairments as encountered in neurological and psychiatric patients are costly in terms of individual human suffering and in financial terms. In addition to its obvious value in advancing fundamental knowledge in neuroscience, understanding the neural mechanisms of decision-making is likely to have important practical consequences, including the understanding and management of neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction, as well as the management of a considerable number of elderly people suffering from a decline in cognitive functions critical for decision-making, in spite of relatively intact memory and general intellect, which impact real-life matters that are important to themselves and their family.