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Updated: Apr 12, 2026
Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 30, 2018
Areas of Brain Damage Underlying Increased Reports of Behavioral Disinhibition
Kristine M Knutson1, Olga Dal Monte1, Selene Schintu1
1From the Behavioral Neurology Unit, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (KMK, EMW); Dept. of Neuropsychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy (ODM); INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, ImpAct Team, Lyon, France (SS); University UCBL Lyon 1, Lyon, France (SS); Dept. of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom (VR); Brain Injury Research, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (JG); Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Cognitive Neurology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL (JG); Molecular Neuroscience Dept., George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (FK); and Dept. of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (FK).
Abstract:
Disinhibition, the inability to inhibit inappropriate behavior, is seen in frontal-temporal degeneration, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. Behavioral disinhibition leads to social and emotional impairments, including impulsive behavior and disregard for social conventions. The authors investigated the effects of lesions on behavioral disinhibition measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory in 177 veterans with traumatic brain injuries. The authors performed voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping using MEDx. Damage in the frontal and temporal lobes, gyrus rectus, and insula was associated with greater behavioral disinhibition, providing further evidence of the frontal lobe's involvement in behavioral inhibition and suggesting that these regions are necessary to inhibit improper behavior.
