Neurobiology of aggression: Neuroimaging findings

Abstract

Aggression is a difficult phenotype to study. With respect to psychiatric diagnoses, it is often related to psychopathy, antisocial behaviour, personality disorder, and schizophrenia. PET and to a much lesser extent SPECT data correspond with structural brain imaging and indicate that the frontal/prefrontal lobe and temporal lobe or limbic system are involved in the development of aggression, possibly through misinterpretation of emotional stimuli or impaired control. Few neuroimaging studies have addressed neurotransmitters issues. There is some evidence for serotonergic and dopaminergic dysfunction in aggressive individuals. Neuroimaging data indicate that there is no simple association of a serotonergic dysfunction and aggression. In patients with schizophrenia and aggression, data from the few neuroimaging studies performed to date indicate frontal and temporal lobe abnormalities. PET and SPECT data further suggest defi cits in the orbitofrontal and temporal cortex. Some fMRI studies found a negative association of violent behaviour with frontal and right-sided inferior parietal activity.