P. Pietrini et al., Neural correlates of imaginal aggressive behavior assessed by positron emission tomography in healthy subjects, AM J PSYCHI, 157(11), 2000, pp. 1772-1781
objective: Neurodegenerative or traumatic lesions of the frontal lobes ofte
n lead to abnormally aggressive behavior. The authors hypothesized that the
imaginal evoking of scenarios involving aggressive behavior would be assoc
iated with a modulation of the functional activity in the human frontal cor
tex.
Method: Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) determinations by positron emis
sion tomography and psychophysiological measures of emotional responsivity
were obtained in a group of 15 young healthy Volunteers with good visual im
agery abilities and no history of abnormal behavior while they imagined the
same scenario with four variations involving emotionally neutral behavior
and aggressive behavior.
Results: Compared to the imagined neutral scenario, the imagined scenarios
involving aggressive behavior were associated with significant emotional re
activity and rCBF reductions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, suggest
ing that a functional deactivation of this cortical area occurs when indivi
duals respond to the eliciting of imagined aggressive behavior.
Conclusions: These results in healthy subjects further expand previous find
ings from animal and human studies by providing an in vivo functional demon
stration of the involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex in the expression o
f aggressive behavior. They are also consistent with the hypothesis that a
functional alteration of this cortical region may be present in individuals
with pathological aggressive behavior.