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Deep Field / case

VMPFC Lesion

operationalCh 10

Ventromedial prefrontal damage spares IQ while collapsing affectively guided choice—Iowa Gambling patterns, broken somatic markers. The offline and affective stacks decouple from action selection. The specimen shows that witness without valence compression fails as practical rationality: trajectories can be named, yet none become unequally urgent. Cognition continues; accountable preferring ceases.

Payment currency

allostatic/broadcast cost

Cessation signature

Failure to integrate anticipated affective consequences into option weighting

Local graph

VMPFC LesionAffective WitnesOffline Mind

Typed relations

Source anchors

  • Ch10 - The Affective Witness
  • Ch11 - The Offline Mind