Besides disinhibition, which symptom may accompany frontal lobe lesions?

• A. Hearing loss
• B. Seizures
• C. Visual field defect
• D. Irritability

Answer: (D)

Frontal lobe damage disrupts the brain’s control of behavior and emotion, so patients often show changes in personality and mood. The prefrontal circuits normally regulate impulses and social behavior, and when they’re damaged, irritability can emerge along with disinhibition. Hearing loss would come from problems in auditory pathways (temporal lobe or ear structures), visual field defects from involvement of optic radiations or occipital areas, and seizures are possible with cortical lesions but are not as characteristic of frontal dysfunction as mood and behavioral changes. So, irritability fits the pattern of frontal lobe–related behavioral disturbance in addition to disinhibition.