Irrational Economic Decision-Making after Ventromedial Prefrontal Damage: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game

↵a Because the offer screen was presented for a fixed 4 s before the “Accept or Reject?” screen appeared, and some subjects would attempt to make their response before the appearance of that screen whereas others would wait, response times for the “Accept or Reject?” screen were not meaningful, and thus response times are not reported.

↵b For example, one of the target patients (patient 2) is accompanied to her hospital visits by her nearly 90-year-old mother. In a recent visit to our neurology clinic, the mother was slow to find that patient's appointment slip during their arrival. Patient 2 reacted by screaming violently at her mother in the patient waiting area. Other patients have similar tantrum-like responses to relatively minor provocation. Examples of triggers for similar outbursts of anger include political disagreements with friends (Patient 3), a spouse's suggestion to use headlights while driving (Patient 1), and a mother's recommendation to change a clothing combination (Patient 4). The key feature of the target patients' angry responses towards others is that they are not commensurate with the provocation.