Name of case study #6:
Urbach-Wiethe Disease
What part of the brain was damaged? How do you know?
How did the patient's behavior or abilities change as a result?
What function do you think this part of the brain is responsible for?
S.M. suffers from a rare genetic condition called Urbach-Wiethe disease that has caused a part of her brain
called the amygdala to harden and waste away. Because of this damage, she is unable to recognize fear. If she
sees a person making a fearful facial expression, she is unable to interpret it, and if asked to draw a scared face,
she is unable to do so. She is also unable to experience fear herself. In scary situations that would make the
average person scared, she feels nothing. Interestingly, her ability to experience other emotions seems to be
intact.
