The impact of executive functions and emotional intelligence on iowa gambling task performance: Focus on right frontal lobe damage

Abstract

Objective: Decision-making in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been intensively studied regarding both the "hot"and "cold"components. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is a key region involved in processing somatic marker information, though recent findings suggest dorsolateral regions are also important. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is also known as a substrate of executive functions - the cold component of decision-making. However, there is contradictory evidence about the role of executive functions, as well as the hot component of decision-making - emotional intelligence. Previous findings suggest that patients with right frontal lobe lesions find decision-making more problematic in IGT. The goal of this study is to replicate previous findings on IGT performance in patients with dorsolateral lesions compared to controls. Methods: We obtained data from patients with right frontal lobe tumors (n = 12), localized in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and healthy controls (n = 21) who undertook the IGT, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and D-KEFS Color-Word Interference Test. Results: The performance in the IGT, WCST, and EI tests is impaired in the clinical group. At the subgroup level, we found patients had lower EI scores regarding the ability to use "emotions for thinking facilitation". However, we found an interaction between the EI scores regarding the ability "the perception and identification of emotions"and the performance on WCST only in the patient group. Conclusion: This study raises the possibility of identifying components of EI which could be helpful in understanding the impairment of patients with right dorsolateral lesions.