ABSTRACT
The reason injury to the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (OMPC) increases the propensity to engage in risky behavior is unclear, but an understanding of the connections of these areas might help. Goal-oriented behavior or volition permeates almost all aspects of creativity, and the major organ of volition appears to be the frontal lobes. Because patients with frontal lobe injuries have an intact hypothalamus and limbic system, they attempt to satisfy a need such as hunger by looking for and eating food. The systems important in developing drive states, such as the hypothalamus and limbic system, are strongly connected with the neuronal assemblies in the frontal lobes. The knowledge of how to satisfy these drive states is stored in the posterior multimodal sensory association, areas which are also strongly connected with the frontal lobes. Support for the postulate that the frontal lobe might be important in either activating or inhibiting semantic networks comes from a recent study using positron-emission tomography.
