Can faulty wiring lead to impulsive violence?
Faulty brain circuitry may underlie impulsive aggression and violence, according to a research review by Richard Davidson and colleagues. The researchers analyzed data from brain imaging studies involving more than 500 violent subjects, including convicted murderers, people with childhood brain injuries, and people with aggressive personality disorders. The evidence, they say, indicates tha at defects in neural circuitry involving the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and amygdala may cause some people to commit violent assaults for little or no reason. “Normal individuals are able to voluntarily regulate their negative affect and can also profit from restraint-producing cues in their environment, such as facial and vocal signs of anger or fear, that also serve a regulatory role,” the researchers say. “W We suggest that individuals predisposed to aggression and violence have an abnormality in the central circuitry responsible for these adaptive behavioral strategies.”
