The Correlation between Brain Structure, Cerebral Executive Control Function and Violent Behavior

• Main Authors: Tien-Cheng Cheng, 鄭添成
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/21769495329226071219

博士 === 國立中正大學 === 犯罪防治所 === 96 === The problem and impact that violent crimes create for society are deep and far. It brings not only the enormous social cost, but also the public great fear to be victimized. The causes of violent crime are widely, and the explanation from biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives have its contribution. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the distinguishing characteristics of violent offender through the behavior measures and the brain image technique. Based on the social cognitive neuroscience knowledge, this study attempt to provide the initiative finding of violent crime issues in Taiwan. Through the biosocial approach, this study recruited 29 male subjects from the community. After reviewed the criminal history and sentence records, all the subjects were assigned to the affective-violent (VA) offender group, the predatory-violent (VP) offender group, the non-violent offender group, or the control group. Behavior measures in this study include the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, and the Health, Personality, Habit Scale. Besides, MRI was adopted in the brain image acquisition. By using the structure MRI scan, the brain volume of gray matter, white matter, and cerebral spinal fluid were calculated, and the structure deficits of brain appearance were diagnosed. By using the functional MRI scan, the executive control functions of brain were measured, and the functional localization of working memory and attention were specified. All the reaction time and the response ratio were collected and analyzed from the experimental task. The VA offender subjects were more likely to have higher scores of assault, passive resistance personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder than the control subjects. The VP offender subjects were more likely to have higher scores of antisocial personality disorder than the control subjects. The VA offender subjects were more likely to have higher scores of passive resistance personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder than the VP offender subjects. The violent offender groups have the most members that meets the condition of moderately or severely degree between personality disorders, especially in the antisocial personality disorder. Besides, the violent groups shows more brain structure deficits and poor executive control functions. In general, the violent groups shows reduced frontal cortex function and higher activation in the temporal lobe, limbic system, and the cingulate cortex under the working memory and attention task. All the offender subjects were more likely to have longer reaction time of working memory and attention than the control subjects. Limited by the working memory capacity and the attention resources, the violent offender subjects shows longer reaction time in the cerebral executive control function task. The results suggest that the deficit might be attributed to the weak linkage between the neural circuit, the disorganization of the neural fibers, or the slowly transmission rate of the neural tracts. The deficits that formed in the early neural development made the individuals to have poor response inhibition, and tend to change the external events to reduce the internal tension and cognitive dissonance when they meet frustration or unexpected situation. Due to the poor neural development, the individuals follow poor language expression ability, and tend to solve problem or fulfill their goals by physical or assault means. To recidivism in crimes by the individuals, kinds of non-adapted personality or specific mental attribution finally developed. However, it remains unclear whether impairment in executive control function is associated with violent crime. In the future study, the number of subjects should be increased to have better ecological validity, and the neurological examination of regional brain structure were necessary for the etiology explanation of the violent criminal behavior.