‘Emotional Intelligence’: Lessons from Lesions
Authors: J. Hogeveen, C. Salvi, J. Grafman
Journal: Trends in Neurosciences (2016)

The validity of 'emotional intelligence' (EI) has been contentiously debated. Despite this debate, human lesion studies suggest that several of the emotional abilities that make up EI are critical to human personal and social functioning. Human lesion evidence suggests a core network of brain regions including the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex is critical to a range of emotional abilities. This evidence should be taken into consideration when attempting to define the factor structure of EI and develop empirically validated test materials. 'Emotional intelligence' (EI) is one of the most highly used psychological terms in popular nomenclature, yet its construct, divergent, and predictive validities are contentiously debated. Despite this debate, the EI construct is composed of a set of emotional abilities – recognizing emotional states in the self and others, using emotions to guide thought and behavior, understanding how emotions shape behavior, and emotion regulation – that undoubtedly influence important social and personal outcomes. In this review, evidence from human lesion studies is reviewed in order to provide insight into the necessary brain regions for each of these core emotional abilities. Critically, we consider how this neuropsychological evidence might help to guide efforts to define and measure EI. 'Emotional intelligence' (EI) is one of the most highly used psychological terms in popular nomenclature, yet its construct, divergent, and predictive validities are contentiously debated. Despite this debate, the EI construct is composed of a set of emotional abilities – recognizing emotional states in the self and others, using emotions to guide thought and behavior, understanding how emotions shape behavior, and emotion regulation – that undoubtedly influence important social and personal outcomes. In this review, evidence from human lesion studies is reviewed in order to provide insight into the necessary brain regions for each of these core emotional abilities. Critically, we consider how this neuropsychological evidence might help to guide efforts to define and measure EI. a subclinical condition characterized by diminished conscious access to one's own emotional states, and difficulty describing one's emotions to others. Can be either 'developmental' – as in individuals with comorbid alexithymia and autism spectrum disorders – or 'acquired' – as in patients with traumatic brain injury. the conscious experience of discrete emotional states (also referred to as 'feelings'). a set of core 'emotional abilities' that enable individuals to interpret and respond to the emotional states of themselves and others in order to adaptively shape thought and behavior. a self-report emotional intelligence (EI) inventory that accompanies the Bar-On mixed model of EI [11Reyes M.R. et al.The interaction effects of program training, dosage, and implementation quality on targeted student outcomes for the RULER approach to social and emotional learning.School Psych. Rev. 2012; 41: 82-99Google Scholar]. This test includes 133 items that yield five primary scales with 15 total subcomponents: (i) intrapersonal scale (self-regard, emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, independence, and self-actualization); (ii) interpersonal scale (empathy, social responsibility, and interpersonal relationships); (iii) adaptability (reality testing, flexibility, and problem solving); (iv) stress management (stress tolerance and impulse control); and (v) general mood (happiness and optimism). a decision-making task that is sensitive to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) patient deficits. Participants select between four decks of cards, two of which have a high probability of losses coupled with a low probability of large rewards (disadvantageous net loss decks), whilst the other two have a high probability of small rewards and a low probability of losses (advantageous net win decks). Patients with vmPFC damage select from the disadvantageous decks more often than controls [96Bechara A. et al.Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex.Cognition. 1994; 50: 7-15Crossref PubMed Scopus (3132) Google Scholar]. a performance-based measure of emotional intelligence (EI) that is a companion to the Mayer and Salovey integrative model of EI [91Wood R.L. et al.Anxiety sensitivity and alexithymia as mediators of postconcussion syndrome following mild traumatic brain injury.J. Head Trauma Rehabil. 2014; 29: E9-E17Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar]. The test consists of four sections of two tasks each, designed to assess each of the capacities of the integrative model (i.e., perceive emotions, understand emotions, use emotions, and manage emotions) to attain one overall EI score. The MSCEIT can also be broken down into two area scores: experiential EI (composed of the ability to perceive emotional stats in the self and others, and the ability to use emotions to facilitate thought and behavior) and strategic EI (composed of the ability to understand emotions and their changes in oneself and others, and the ability to manage emotion efficiently and effectively). ventromedial sectors of the prefrontal cortex. This also includes the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the perigenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. a large, prospective study of brain-injured combat veterans and nonbrain-injured control participants (Box 1). a univariate analysis technique for determining what brain regions are causally involved in a given function on a voxel-by-voxel basis. Useful for identifying distributed patterns of brain regions as opposed to the traditional region-of-interest-based approach.