Introduction to the special section on the emotional concomitants of brain damage

The purpose of this introduction is to emphasize the theoretical and clinical implications of studying emotion after brain damage. Theoretically, it is one way of elucidating critical neural substrates of emotion and the interaction of cognitive and noncognitive determinants. Clinically, the cognitive and other behavioral changes associated with certain types of brain damage may make traditional methods of assessing emotion inaccurate. This special section is designed to review current knowledge regarding these issues and to emphasize their theoretical and clinical importance.