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Aggressive Behavior May 2017Verbal and physical aggression begin early in life and steadily decline thereafter in normal development. As a result, elevated aggressive behavior in adolescence may...
Verbal and physical aggression begin early in life and steadily decline thereafter in normal development. As a result, elevated aggressive behavior in adolescence may signal atypical development and greater vulnerability for negative mental and health outcomes. Converging evidence suggests that brain disturbances in regions involved in impulse control, emotional regulation, and sensation seeking may contribute to heightened aggression. However, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying subtypes of aggression (i.e., proactive and reactive aggression) and whether they differ between males and females. Using a sample of 106 14-year-old adolescent twins, this study found that striatal enlargement was associated with both proactive and reactive aggression. We also found that volumetric alterations in several frontal regions including smaller middle frontal and larger orbitofrontal cortex were correlated with higher levels of aggression in adolescent twins. In addition, cortical thickness analysis showed that thickness alterations in many overlapping regions including middle frontal, superior frontal, and anterior cingulate cortex and temporal regions were associated with aggression in adolescent twins. Results support the involvement of fronto-limbic-striatal circuit in the etiology of aggression during adolescence. Aggr. Behav. 43:230-240, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Aggression; Cerebral Cortex; Female; Gyrus Cinguli; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neostriatum; Occipital Lobe; Prefrontal Cortex
PubMed: 27766650
DOI: 10.1002/ab.21683 -
Acta Psychologica Sep 2023Social exclusion can induce negative emotions and aggression. While previous studies have investigated the effect of trait acceptance on emotional experience and... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Social exclusion can induce negative emotions and aggression. While previous studies have investigated the effect of trait acceptance on emotional experience and aggression during social exclusion, it is still unclear how different forms of acceptance strategy can downregulate negative emotions and whether this potential reduction of negative emotions should mediate the effect of acceptance on aggression. To address these questions, 100 participants were recruited and randomly divided into three groups: control group (CG, N = 33), conscious acceptance group (CAG, N = 33) and unconscious acceptance group (UAG, N = 34). Negative emotions were induced by the cyberball game and measured by the modified PANAS. Aggressive behavior was assessed by the hot sauce allocation task. Results showed that anger, rather than other negative emotions, mediated the effect of acceptance on aggressive behavior. Conscious and unconscious acceptance both effectively regulated anger, hurt feelings and aggressive behavior during social exclusion. Compared to conscious acceptance, unconscious acceptance was associated with less reduction of positive emotion and had a better effect on reducing sadness. These findings highlight the advantage of applying unconscious acceptance strategy to regulating social exclusion-induced emotions for the purpose of reducing aggressive behavior.
Topics: Humans; Anger; Emotions; Aggression; Consciousness
PubMed: 37562322
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104000 -
Trends in Ecology & Evolution Oct 2017Behavioral interference between species, such as territorial aggression, courtship, and mating, is widespread in animals. While aggressive and reproductive forms of... (Review)
Review
Behavioral interference between species, such as territorial aggression, courtship, and mating, is widespread in animals. While aggressive and reproductive forms of interspecific interference have generally been studied separately, their many parallels and connections warrant a unified conceptual approach. Substantial evidence exists that aggressive and reproductive interference have pervasive effects on species coexistence, range limits, and evolutionary processes, including divergent and convergent forms of character displacement. Alien species invasions and climate change-induced range shifts result in novel interspecific interactions, heightening the importance of predicting the consequences of species interactions, and behavioral interference is a fundamental but neglected part of the equation. Here, we outline priorities for further theoretical and empirical research on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of behavioral interference.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Biological Evolution; Climate Change; Competitive Behavior; Reproduction; Species Specificity
PubMed: 28797610
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2017.07.004 -
Social Cognitive and Affective... May 2018Social rejection is a painful event that often increases aggression. However, the neural mechanisms of this rejection-aggression link remain unclear. A potential clue...
Social rejection is a painful event that often increases aggression. However, the neural mechanisms of this rejection-aggression link remain unclear. A potential clue may be that rejected people often recruit the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex's (VLPFC) self-regulatory processes to manage the pain of rejection. Using functional MRI, we replicated previous links between rejection and activity in the brain's mentalizing network, social pain network and VLPFC. VLPFC recruitment during rejection was associated with greater activity in the brain's reward network (i.e. the ventral striatum) when individuals were given an opportunity to retaliate. This retaliation-related striatal response was associated with greater levels of retaliatory aggression. Dispositionally aggressive individuals exhibited less functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the right VLPFC during aggression. This connectivity exerted a suppressing effect on dispositionally aggressive individuals' greater aggressive responses to rejection. These results help explain how the pain of rejection and reward of revenge motivate rejected people to behave aggressively.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aggression; Anger; Brain Mapping; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neostriatum; Nerve Net; Neuropsychological Tests; Pain; Prefrontal Cortex; Rejection, Psychology; Reward; Theory of Mind; Young Adult
PubMed: 29618118
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy025 -
Brain Topography Jul 2024Trait aggression can lead to catastrophic consequences for individuals and society. However, it remains unclear how aggressive people differ from others regarding basic,...
Trait aggression can lead to catastrophic consequences for individuals and society. However, it remains unclear how aggressive people differ from others regarding basic, task-independent brain characteristics. We used EEG microstate analysis to investigate how the temporal organization of neural resting networks might help explain inter-individual differences in aggression. Microstates represent whole-brain networks, which are stable for short timeframes (40-120 ms) before quickly transitioning into other microstate types. Recent research demonstrates that the general temporal stability of microstates across types predicts higher levels of self-control and inhibitory control, and lower levels of risk-taking preferences. Given that these outcomes are inversely related to aggression, we investigated whether microstate stability at rest would predict lower levels of trait aggression. As males show higher levels of aggression than females, and males and females express aggression differently, we also tested for possible gender-differences. As hypothesized, people with higher levels of trait aggression showed lower microstate stability. This effect was moderated by gender, with men showing stronger associations compared to women. These findings support the notion that temporal dynamics of sub-second resting networks predict complex human traits. Furthermore, they provide initial indications of gender-differences in the functional significance of EEG microstates.
Topics: Humans; Male; Aggression; Female; Electroencephalography; Young Adult; Brain; Adult; Rest; Sex Characteristics; Nerve Net
PubMed: 36400856
DOI: 10.1007/s10548-022-00929-6 -
Psychiatry Research Sep 2023This study examined predictors of aggression and assessed whether different subgroups of children and young people (CYP) display varying risks of aggressive incidents...
This study examined predictors of aggression and assessed whether different subgroups of children and young people (CYP) display varying risks of aggressive incidents during hospitalization. Data from 10,090 children admitted to the psychiatric inpatient units of Cincinnati Children's Hospital between April 2010 and June 2021 were analysed. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine significant predictors associated with aggression, followed by average marginal effects and cluster analyses to rank and establish clusters by the order of predictor importance. About 32.5% reported positive history of an aggressive incident. The mean BRACHA score was doubled compared to those without a prior history. The primary analysis showed that both younger and male CYPs had higher odds of aggressive incidents. We also found that CYP with an African descent, not being able to live with both biological parents, those who reported positive history of psychiatric hospitalisation, and prior externalising behaviours had higher odds of aggressive incidents. These findings have important clinical and public health implications, as they provide valuable knowledge for healthcare professionals to improve prevention strategies for aggression amongst this vulnerable population.
Topics: Humans; Male; Adolescent; Child; Inpatients; Aggression; Risk Factors; Hospitalization; Mental Disorders
PubMed: 37506586
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115368 -
Aggressive Behavior May 2019This study investigated if and how children and teachers differ in their assessment of victim-aggressor relationships in kindergartens. Self-, peer, and teacher reports...
This study investigated if and how children and teachers differ in their assessment of victim-aggressor relationships in kindergartens. Self-, peer, and teacher reports of victimization-aggression networks (who is victimized by whom) were investigated in 25 Swiss kindergartens with 402 5- to 7-years-old. It was examined whether child characteristics (sex and parent-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior) influence informant reports of victimization and/or aggression. Findings from statistical network models indicated higher concordance between self and peer reports than between one of these and teacher reports. Results further showed more agreement among informants on aggressors than on victims. Aggressors reported by self and peer reports were low on internalizing behavior, and aggressors reported by self and teacher reports were high on externalizing behavior; teacher-reported victims were also high on externalizing behavior. Internalizing behavior was unrelated to victimization. According to self and peer reports, boys as well as girls were victimized by boys and girls equally; teachers reported less cross-sex victimization than same-sex victimization. The different views of teachers and children on victim-aggressor relationships have implications for the identification of aggression in early childhood. Mutual sharing of information between children, their parents, peers, and teachers may contribute to signaling victims and aggressors in the early school years.
Topics: Aggression; Bullying; Child, Preschool; Crime Victims; Female; Humans; Male; Parents; Peer Group; Schools
PubMed: 30675911
DOI: 10.1002/ab.21817 -
Scientific Reports Nov 2023Chronotypes, the individual differences in daily activity timing, have profound associations with numerous physiological processes. Despite this, the covariance between...
Chronotypes, the individual differences in daily activity timing, have profound associations with numerous physiological processes. Despite this, the covariance between chronotypes and other aspects of an individual's behaviour has been infrequently explored in non-human animals. This study delves into individual's variation across four axes of personality in a controlled environment, utilising the pearly razorfish, a model species for fish chronotype studies. We identified behavioural types across the aggressiveness continuum and established behavioural syndromes amongst exploration, activity, and boldness, irrespective of body size and condition. Subsequent to this, the experimental subjects were reintroduced to their natural habitat and individually tracked using high-resolution technology to ascertain their chronotypes. Our results revealed that whilst the exploration-activity-boldness syndrome bore no correlation with chronotypes, a significant association was observed between aggressiveness and chronotype. Hence, individuals with later awakening times and rest onsets were more aggressive than their counterparts with earlier awakening times and rest onsets. This study provides pioneering evidence linking fish chronotypes with other behavioural traits, such as aggressiveness, suggesting that behavioural variation could be potentially linked to the individuals' variation in internal clocks and the environmental variables influencing their expression.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Chronotype; Personality; Individuality; Personality Disorders; Aggression
PubMed: 37985683
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45579-1 -
Child Psychiatry and Human Development Apr 2018This study aimed to assess whether groups of aggressive children differed on psychopathic traits, and neuropsychological and neurobiological measures of prefrontal...
This study aimed to assess whether groups of aggressive children differed on psychopathic traits, and neuropsychological and neurobiological measures of prefrontal functioning consistent with the objectives of their aggression-reactive or proactive. Including 110 typically developing children (9-11 years), a latent class analysis identified a low aggression group, a high reactive aggression group, and a mixed (high reactive and proactive) aggression group. Results show high callous-unemotional traits and low resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia increased the likelihood of children being in the mixed aggression group, when compared to the reactive and low aggression groups. However, deficits in planning and inhibitory control increased the likelihood of children being in the reactive aggression group, when compared to the mixed and low aggression groups. Executive functioning deficits did not differentiate the mixed group from the low aggression group. These findings highlight psychobiological and executive functioning differences that may explain heterogeneity in childhood aggression.
Topics: Aggression; Child; Child Development; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 28681106
DOI: 10.1007/s10578-017-0741-0 -
Neuropharmacology Sep 2019Disproportionate anger and reactive aggression in response to provocation are core symptoms of intermittent-explosive disorder (IED). Previous research shows a link...
Disproportionate anger and reactive aggression in response to provocation are core symptoms of intermittent-explosive disorder (IED). Previous research shows a link between the propensity for aggression in healthy individuals and altered functioning of prefrontal-limbic and default-mode networks (DMN) at rest when no provocation is present. In a pilot study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the effects of pronounced reactive aggression in men, exemplified by IED, on the functional organization of resting-state brain networks including subcortical nodes such as the habenula previously implicated in aggression in preclinical models. Graph theory was applied to resting-state networks to determine alterations in global efficiency and clustering in high reactive aggressive men compared to low reactive aggressive men (controls). Further, we computed within-group correlations between trait aggression and graph measures, as well as within-group whole-brain seed-to-voxel regression analyses between trait aggression and habenula resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). Reactive aggressive men compared to controls showed higher global efficiency in the left habenula, the left pulvinar in the thalamus, the left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, and the right temporal pole, as well as a trend for decreased clustering in DMN nodes. In the reactive aggressive group, high levels of trait aggression were linked to lower global efficiency of the left habenula, and to lower rsFC between the left habenula and the left ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, a core region involved in inhibitory control. Together with preclinical evidence, our findings in men underline the relevance of aberrant habenula-prefrontal connectivity for the severity of aggressive behavior. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Current status of the neurobiology of aggression and impulsivity'.
Topics: Adult; Aggression; Anger; Brain Mapping; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders; Habenula; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neural Pathways; Pilot Projects; Prefrontal Cortex
PubMed: 30366001
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.10.025