ReviewThe somatic marker hypothesis: A critical evaluation
Section snippets
Development of the SMH
The SMH grew from attempts to understand the striking emotional and everyday decision-making deficits displayed by patients with damage to VMPFC, the portions of the frontal lobes above the eye sockets. Damasio (1994) reviewed how damage to the VMPFC can have profound effects on work and social function without inducing any obvious impairments in intellect and cognitive performance, focusing particularly on the famous cases of Phineas Gage (see Harlow, 1868 for an overview) and Elliot (EVR; see
Evaluation of the Iowa gambling task as key evidence for the SMH
Work from the Iowa laboratory at first glance provides strong support for the SMH. On closer examination, however, a number of issues with the IGT come to light that potentially undermine this evidence. The strengths and weaknesses of the IGT will now be systematically reviewed in order to determine the extent to which IGT data can support the SMH.
Evaluation of the proposed neural substrate of the SMH
A considerable strength of the SMH is that the neural substrate considered to mediate such markers has been specified in some detail (for an overview, see Damasio, 1994, Damasio, 2004, Bechara and Damasio, 2005). Damasio draws a distinction between two different kinds of stimuli that require a decision-making response, each of which is believed to be regulated by different regions of the brain. ‘Primary inducers’ are innate or learned stimuli that generate pleasurable or aversive states,
Further conceptual issues with the SMH
Some additional potential problems with the SMH at a theoretical level will now be considered.
Conclusion: current status of the somatic marker hypothesis
The SMH (Damasio, 1994) represents an intriguing model of how feedback from the body may contribute to successful decision-making in situations of complexity and uncertainty. This builds on earlier work linking activity in the body to emotion experience (e.g. James, 1884, James, 1894, Lange, 1885) and decision-making (e.g. Pribram, 1970, Nauta, 1971). Key support for this theory has been largely drawn from data on the IGT, a decision-making task that has been claimed to rely on emotion-related
Acknowledgements
This review was supported by the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom. Address reprint requests to Dr Barnaby Dunn, MRC CBU, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 2EF, UK; [email protected] (e-mail)
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