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Summary PSY3375 Neuropsychology and Law
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An extensive summary of all literature, problems and lectures of the course PSY3375 Neuropsychology and Law
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PSY3375 – Neuropsychology and LawProblem 1 Back to Lombroso?........................................................................................................................ 2
Problem 2 Acquired brain injury and criminality........................................................................................... 11
Problem 3 Schizophrenia and violence......................................................................................................... 19
Problem 4 Psychopathy: A brain disorder?................................................................................................... 25
Problem 5 Scanning for pedophilia............................................................................................................... 31
Problem 6 Witnesses with brain damage...................................................................................................... 37
Lecture 1...................................................................................................................................................... 42
Lecture 2...................................................................................................................................................... 46
Lecture 3...................................................................................................................................................... 50
Lecture 4...................................................................................................................................................... 54
1
,Problem 1 Back to Lombroso?
1. What biological factors are associated with criminal behavior?
Genetics:
- Antisocial and aggressive behavior have a considerable genetic basis
- The variance that is attributable is estimated between 40-60%
- The heritability of antisocial/criminal behaviors vary in part based upon the
specific behaviors examined
- Genes do not operate in isolation, thus it is important to consider the context in
which genes are activated
- Gene-environment (G x E) interactions can increase risk for antisocial
behavior and/or produce epigenetic changes within individuals
- Specific genes:
o Genes implicated in the serotonergic and catecholaminergic
neurobiological systems
o Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene
In combination with toxic childhood will increase your chance for
antisocial/criminal behavior (Glenn & Raine + Ling, Umbach and
Raine)
Prenatal and perinatal influences:
- Birth complications, in combination with maternal rejection of the child in the
first year of life, have been associated with violent criminal offending at the
age of 34 years in Denmark
o This predictive finding has been replicated in the US, Canada, Sweden
and Finland with respect to violence in adulthood, and in Hawaii and
Pittsburgh (USA) with respect to childhood antisocial behavior.
- Fetal maldevelopment during the second trimester of pregnancy, as indicated
by minor physical anomalies in the child, has been associated with later
violent delinquency and violent offending in adulthood.
- The association between fetal neural maldevelopment and childhood
aggression and adolescent conduct disorder may be even more pronounced
when combined with effects of poor parenting or social adversity.
- Cavum septum pellucidum (failed closure of the septum pellucidum). Cavum
septum pellucidum is thought to be an early marker for disrupted development
in the limbic region of the brain, which in turn is associated with offending.
- Maternal nicotine consumption and alcohol consumption during pregnancy
also predispose individuals to violent offending in adulthood
- Lead levels have been associated with juvenile delinquency and aggressive
behavior.
- Poor nutrition in either the first or second trimester of pregnancy has been
associated with a 2.5-fold increase in antisocial personality disorder in the
offspring (Glenn & Raine)
Hormones and neurotransmitters:
- HPA-axis
2
, o Associations between antisocial behavior and cortisol levels (HPA-axis,
stress response system) vary depending on the type of antisocial
behavior and other factors.
o Psychological stress at various stages during development may
produce lasting changes in HPA axis functioning and thereby
predispose an individual to antisocial behavior.
o Low levels of cortisol in childhood are predictive of aggressive behavior
5 years later, in adolescence.
If you are not stressed at all by anything, and you are punished
by your parents, it does not have any effect (insensitive to
punishment). They are not socialized in the correct way, don’t
understand use of rules
- Increased testosterone levels have been repeatedly associated with increased
aggressive behavior in adults.
o This relationship appears to be less evident in pre-pubertal individuals.
- Low levels of serotonin in cerebrospinal fluid are a particular marker of people
who show impulsive aggressive behavior.
o Paradox: Low levels of MAOA in your brain, means that serotonin is not
broken down high serotonin-levels in the brain antisocial behavior
- Aggression has also been associated with reduced monoamine oxidase A
(MAOA) levels in the brain
o MAOA is an enzyme that breaks down serotonin and other
neurotransmitters, and hence lower levels of MAOA would presumably
result in higher serotonin levels. (Glenn & Raine)
Psychophysiology – The levels of arousal within individuals:
- Measured with heart rate and skin conductance (sweat rate). They both
capture autonomic nervous system functioning
o Skin conductance reflects sympathetic nervous system functioning
o Heart rate reflects both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
system activity
o Related to cortisol-levels. They are not stressed by anything
- Blunted autonomic functioning has been associated with increased antisocial
behavior
o Theories that have been proposed to explain how blunted autonomic
functioning could have increased anti-sociality:
Fearlessness hypothesis:
Suggests that antisocial individuals, due to their blunted
autonomic functioning, are not deterred from criminal behavior
because they do not experience appropriate physiological
responses to risky or stressful situations nor potential aversive
consequences.
Sensation-seeking hypothesis:
Suggests that blunted psychophysiology is an uncomfortable
state of being, and in order to achieve homeostasis, individuals
engage in antisocial behavior to raise their arousal levels.
Somatic marker hypothesis:
Suggests that ‘somatic markers’ (sweaty palms) may reflect
emotional states (anxiety) that can inform decision-making
3
, processes. Impairments in autonomic functioning could lead to
risky or inappropriate behavior if individuals are unable to
experience or label somatic changes and connect them to
relevant emotional experiences.
- Low resting heart rate in adolescence is associated with increased risk for
criminality in adulthood
o Low resting heart rate may indicate a lack of fear and a reduced
likelihood of experiencing negative affect in response to a criminal act
- Poor autonomic fear conditioning (the ability to learn associations between
neutral cues and aversive stimuli) is another well-replicated correlate of adult
criminal and psychopathic adult offending, conduct disorder in children and
adolescents, and juvenile offending.
o Studies suggest that deficits in fear conditioning may reflect
abnormalities in a common core fear network that consists of the
amygdala, insula and anterior cingulate. Indeed, numerous brain
imaging studies find abnormalities in these areas in antisocial people,
although this has been disputed with respect to individuals with
psychopathic traits.
- There are different antisocial/criminal subtypes, and they may not share the
same deficits (Glenn & Raine + Ling, Umbach & Raine)
Brain imaging and neurology:
- Antisocial/criminal individuals tend to exhibit reduced brain volumes as well as
impaired functioning and connectivity in key areas related to executive
functions, emotion regulation, decision-making and morality while also
exhibiting increased volumes and functional abnormalities in reward regions of
the brain
- Prefrontal cortex:
o The PFC is considered the seat of higher-level cognitive processes
such as decision-making, attention, emotion regulation, impulse control,
and moral reasoning
o In healthy adults, larger prefrontal structures have been associated with
better executive functioning. However, structural deficits and functional
impairments of the PFC have been observed in antisocial and criminal
individuals
o Conventional criminal behavior has typically been associated with
prefrontal cortex (PFC) structural aberrations and functional
impairments
o The largest reductions in structure and function within the frontal lobe of
antisocial individuals were observed in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior
cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
DPC: Is associated with self-regulatory processes, including
attention and cognitive flexibility, and may be linked to the
antisocial features of impulsivity and poor behavioral control
ACC: Is involved in error processing, conflict monitoring and
avoidance learning. Individuals with damage to this region are
more disinhibited and aggressive and demonstrate impairments
in inhibitory control and emotion processing.
4
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