Neural Explanations

• What is included in neural explanations?

  • Limbic system
  • Serotonin
• Limbic system

  Collection of structures in centre of brain. One of its functions is to process emotional responses.

  • Hypothalamus - regulation of autonomic nervous system, which controls body responses to emotional stimuli. Damage means aggressive responses
  • Amygdala - key predictor of aggression. Detects & responds to threats. Gospic - activity is present here during aggressive responses.
  • Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) - rational decision maker in brain and regulates aggression from limbic system
• Serotonin - Neural

  ---> neurotransmitter linked to aggression. It has inhibitory function

  • Inhibits amygdala (emotional response) to maintain stable mood

  Serotonin deficiency hypothesis - lower levels of serotonin in OFC = less self control over aggressive impulses

  
  

  Without serotonin - amygdala is more active when stimulated.
• Strength of neural mechanisms

  Strong body of empirical evidence

  Most studies use objective biological measurements. Decreases bias.

  Research includes brain imaging (fMRI) showing clear link between amygdala and aggression

  
  

  Coccaro et al - found inc amygdala activity in ind during aggressive responses

  Further supported by Gospic who found same results

  
  

  Increases internal validity
• Strength of neural mechanisms

  Animal studies support

  
  

  Aggleton et al - lesioning amygdala in rats and found that when they did this it decreased aggression in the rats

  ---> support limbic system - amygdala plays a crucial role in regulating aggression

  
  

  Increases validity - animals share some neural structures with humans
• Limitation of neural mechanisms

  Reductionist

  Oversimplified. Ignores social, cognitive and environmental factors

  • e.g. not all individuals with low serotonin show aggression