Juveniles with a history of violent behavior show cognitive performance and electrophysiology consistent with inhibitory control and emotional feedback processing problems

Emotion Recognition and Inhibitory Control in Adolescent Players of Violent Video Games

Developmental changes during adolescence may make youth susceptible to violent media effects. Two studies with male adolescents (N₁  = 241; N₂  = 161; aged 12-17) examined how habitual and short-term violent video gaming may affect emotion recognition and inhibitory control. We found that not habitual exposure to violent video games, but to antisocial media content predicted worse emotion recognition. Furthermore, higher habitual exposure to violent games predicted better inhibitory control over emotional stimuli in a stop signal task. However, short-term causal effects of violent gameplay on adolescents were not found. While these results do not indicate a negative impact of violent video games on young players, future research may further investigate possible effects of antisocial media content on adolescents.

Reactive vs proactive aggression: A differential psychobiological profile? Conclusions derived from a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Scholars have established subcategories of aggressive behavior in order to better understand this construct. Specifically, a classification based on motivational underpinnings makes it possible to differentiate between reactive and proactive aggression. Whereas reactive aggression is characterized by emotional lability, which means it is prone to impulsive reactions after provocation, proactive aggression is driven by low emotionality and high levels of instrumentality to obtain benefits. Some authors have conceived these two types as having a dichotomous nature, but others argue against this conceptualization, considering a complementary model more suitable. Hence, neuroscientific research might help to clarify discussions about their nature because biological markers do not present the same biases as psychological instruments.

AIM

The main objective of this study was to carry out a systematic review of studies that assess underlying biological markers (e.g., genes, brain, psychophysiological, and hormonal) of reactive and proactive aggression.

METHODS

To carry out this review, we followed PRISMA quality criteria for reviews, using five digital databases complemented by hand-searching.

RESULTS

The reading of 3993 abstracts led to the final inclusion of 157 papers that met all the inclusion criteria. The studies included allow us to conclude that heritability accounted for approximately 45% of the explained variance in both types of aggression, with 60% shared by both, especially, for overt and physical expression forms, and 10% specific to each type. Regarding allelic risk factors, whereas low functioning variants affecting serotonin transport and monoaminoxidase increased the risk of reactive aggression, high functioning variants were associated with proactive aggression. Furthermore, brain analysis revealed an overlap between the two types of aggression and alterations in the volume of the amygdala and temporal cortex. Moreover, high activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) facilitated proneness to both types of aggression equally. Whereas stimulation of the right ventrolateral (VLPFC) and dorsolateral (DLPFC) reduced proneness to aggression, inhibition of the left DLPFC increased it. Finally, psychophysiological and hormonal correlates in general did not clearly differentiate between the two types because they were equally related to each type (e.g., low basal cortisol and vagal variability in response to acute stress) CONCLUSIONS: This study reinforces the complementary model of both types of aggression instead of a dichotomous model. Additionally, this review also offers background about several treatments (i.e., pharmacological, non-invasive brain techniques…) to reduce aggression proneness.

Cold-Blooded and on Purpose: A Review of the Biology of Proactive Aggression

Proactive aggression (PA) is a planned and unprovoked form of aggression that is most often enacted for personal gain or in anticipation of a reward. Frequently described as "cold-blooded" or goal oriented, PA is thought to be associated with low autonomic arousal. With this view in mind, we performed a scoping review of the biological correlates of PA and identified 74 relevant articles. Physiological findings indicated a robust association between PA and reduced resting heart rate, and to a lesser extent a relationship between PA and decreased heart rate and skin conductance reactivity, perhaps indicating dampened sympathetic function. The twin literature identified PA as a heritable trait, but little evidence implicates specific genes in the pathogenesis of PA. Neuroimaging studies of PA pinpoint impaired amygdala function in the assessment and conditioning of aversive stimuli, which may influence the establishment of behavioral patterns. Nodes of the default mode network were identified as possible neural correlates of PA, suggesting that altered function of this network may be involved in the genesis of PA. Given the overlap of PA with reactive aggression and the overall behavioral complexity of PA, it is clear that multiple endophenotypes of PA exist. This comprehensive review surveys the most salient neurobiologically informed research on PA.

External locus of control and cognitive ability independently distinguish men in prison from community living non-offending men

BACKGROUND

The ability to cope with failure and subsequent feedback is crucial for prisoner rehabilitation. Impaired executive function in prisoners, high trait aggression and external locus of control can undermine the capacity to react to feedback in socially adaptive ways.

AIM

To investigate the relationships between aggression, locus of control, and attribution in an experimental task involving feedback about failure and success.

METHODS

Two groups were compared: 1. Imprisoned men, 2. Community living men without a history of incarceration. Aggression, locus of control and reasoning ability were assessed by means of psychometric instruments. An experimental task building on cognitive ability and providing performance-related feedback was carried out. Attributions of failure and success were measured using an ad hoc rating scale.

RESULTS

Prisoners reported higher levels of aggression and generalised externality, but poorer reasoning ability than the comparison group. Aggression was associated with external locus of control. In the experimental task, the community group showed higher success rates; higher scores on the task were correlated with less external attribution of own performance. Higher external locus of control and lower reasoning ability were independently associated with being a prisoner in a logistic regression model.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Men in prison were characterised by greater social and fatalistic externality paired with lower reasoning ability than never incarcerated community men. In-prison rehabilitation strategies should pay early attention to improving reasoning ability and enabling men to recognise likely overuse of externally attributing their difficulties to fate, then helping them to become more realistic in their attributions and make use of realistic feedback.

The influence of relationship closeness and desire for forgiveness on interpersonal forgiveness

This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of the desire for forgiveness on the association between relationship closeness and interpersonal forgiveness using event-related potentials (ERPs). We recruited forty student participants (20 males and 20 females) to complete the modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP), which was used to induce the offensive experience and record the victim's level of reactive aggression toward the offenders. Results indicated that for the internal intention of forgiveness behavior, when the desire for forgiveness was not expressed, participants were more forgiving of close offenders than strangers; when the desire for forgiveness was expressed, the internal intention of forgiveness behavior for strangers was similar to that for close offenders. Regarding the external performance of forgiveness behavior, whether the offender expressed the desire for forgiveness or not, participants exhibited more external performance of forgiveness behaviors toward the close offenders than the strangers. Furthermore, the decision-related negativity (DRN)-a negative component associated with aggressiveness-was larger when participants were considering the punishment of strangers when no desire for forgiveness was expressed. There was no significant difference when the desire for forgiveness was expressed. Moreover, the feedback-related negativity (FRN)-a negative component reflecting the evaluation of the valence of an outcome-was larger when participants lost a trial against strangers when no desire for forgiveness was expressed. No such difference was observed in both opponents when the desire for forgiveness was expressed. These findings confirmed that the desire for forgiveness moderated the association between relationship closeness and interpersonal forgiveness.