Discuss the correlations between brain activity and antisocial behavior.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The model in which limbic activation, particularly in the amygdala, provides aggressive drive that is normally inhibited by the orbitofrontal cortex and ACC. According to this view, impulsive aggression will result from limbic overstimulation, insufficient frontal inhibition, or both. Not too surprisingly, abnormalities in these structures and their functions have been implicated in antisocial behavior. Lower amygdala volume is associated with childhood aggression, early psychopathic traits, and later violence in males. One of the most replicated findings in ASPD is reduced volume and activity in the prefrontal cortex. Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex is seen in individuals engaged in stealing, lying, aggressive behavior, poor parenting, and an inability to understand the consequences of their behavior. Psychopaths show different patterns of connectivity involving the frontal lobes when compared to typical control participants. In addition, the typical controls used the inferior frontal cortices and orbitofrontal cortices as information "hubs," while the psychopaths used the superior frontal cortices for this function. The callousness that characterizes the psychopath might result from different patterns of brain activity. Criminal psychopaths showed less activity in several limbic structures than noncriminal controls when exposed to stimuli that normally elicit an emotional response, such as the word torture. Criminal psychopaths were especially impaired in identifying fear in a person's voice. These impairments in empathy, mediated by circuits involving the amygdala and by levels of oxytocin and vasopressin, could interfere with some of the normal controls that prevent us from hurting one another.