The Prefrontal Cortex And Antisocial Behaviour Psychology Essay

The Prefrontal Cortex And Antisocial demeanour Psychology EssayTodays society, where unsociable behaviour is seen in children and adults, seems to exhibit a greater need to understand its underlying causes. Ones ability to act in an appropriate manner in a given social mise en scene is quite unique to humans along with the ability to reason and settle conscious decisions. Therefore, it seems to suggest that such civilised behaviours are dictated by an field of the hotshot seen in only if the most developed. Research into asocial behaviour implicates the prefrontal cerebral mantle an area of the frontal lobe snarly in decision-making and the ability to inhibit undesirable social responses. The investigate to be discussed in this essay looks at how prefrontal cortex dysfunction affects judgement and how this, in turn, contributes to the decision to behave antisocially.History is littered with cases of undivideds whose behaviour changes drastically as the result of brai n damage, however, these only represent patients in which brain work develops normally. Anderson, Bechara, Damasio, Tranel and Damasio (1999) presented the case of two individuals in which normal brain development was prevented by damage caused primarily to the prefrontal cortex before the age of cardinal months. This study complex a comparison between adult and early-onset patients to measure the differences caused by the repressed development of the prefrontal cortex. Findings show that the two contrary categories of patients were very similar in social impairments but the distinction stool be seen in the fact that early-onset patients lacked the social and object lesson reasoning of the adults, therefore suggesting that development of social and moral principles had been affected. This implies that the prefrontal cortex is pertain in the ability to make socially acceptable and moral decisions which are consequently applied in making appropriate behavioral responses.Muc h research in this area makes use of diagnosed Psychopathic individuals (condition characterised by extreme antisocial behaviour towards others). Yang and Raine (2009) conducted a meta-analysis of 43 cases of varying ranges of antisocial behaviour- including psychopaths. Not only do the findings support the troth of the prefrontal cortex in antisocial behaviour- increased antisocial behaviour is link up to reduced function of some(prenominal) prefrontal fields- but they propose some localisation of antisocial aspects in specific sub-regions of the cortex. They hypothesised that activity reduction in areas such as the orbitofrontal region are affiliated with emotional impairments and decision-making deficits, whereas, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex dysfunction is more associated with characteristic impulsivity. Furthermore, brain imaging has highlighted orbitofrontal involvement in the reliving of one particular emotion known to underlie behavioral decisions guilt (Wagner, NDi aye, Ethofer and Vuilleumier, 2011). Yang and Raines (2009) theory seems to explain how prefrontal damage bathroom number for a variety of behavioural aspects that fall under the umbrella landmark of antisocial.Psychopathy has also been linked to discrepancies in the process of moral judgement by way of amygdala and orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (Blair, 2007). Blair (2007) theorises that the reduction in care-based morality seen in psychopaths can be explained in terms of dysfunction of the amygdala and ventromedial l prefrontal cortex as these are involved in learning and reinforcement in that aversive reinforcement prevents a person making immoral decisions. However, dysfunction in those with psychopathic tendencies way that such forms of learning do not occur and so they bring into being unable to make moral decisions leading to immoral behaviours. Verification is provided by Marsh, Finger, Fowler, Jurkowitz, Schechter, Yu, Pine and Blair (2011) who conducted brain imaging studies on patients with psychopathic traits whilst getting them to put down in a moral labor. Although, by their own admission, the moral task was fairly minor, the results show that participants had reduced activity between the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala during task completion (Marsh et al, 2011). This seemingly supports Blair (2007) in linking deficiencies of the two brain regions to moral judgment and psychopathic behaviour.Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex has further been linked to moral decision making in terms of beliefs about unwholesome intent behind certain behaviours. Young, Bechera, Tranel, Damasio, Hauser and Damasio (2010) conducted a study on patients with two-sided damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in which they manipulated scenarios to depict varying degrees of maltreat (intentional harm, deliberate- hitless harm). They found that relative to healthy controls, participants judged accidental harms more severely than u nsuccessful yet intentional harm. According to Young et al. (2010) participants came to this conclusion by neglecting veto behavioural intent and focusing only on the outcomes. Hence, it seems that damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, impairs an individuals ability to make moral decisions regarding behavioural intent. This has powerful implications perhaps antisocial behaviour displayed in those with prefrontal dysfunction is born out of the inability to recognise the harmful intent behind their actions, especially if the outcome is something they distinguish as desirable.In conclusion, the role of prefrontal cortex dysfunction in antisocial behaviour is corroborated in extensive research which suggests its involvement is not limited to one specific aspect of the behaviour, nor one particular brain sub-region. This appears to make the argument more comprehensive than if such complex behaviour was specified to one region alone. The prefrontal cortex seems to be involved i n the motivation behind behaviours and the judgements that affect behavioural decisions. Therefore, dysfunction of the area leads to immoral decision making which causes the individuals to behave in ways that can be classed as antisocial (such as those behaviours shown by psychopaths). Particular involvement seems to be of the orbitofrontal region in influencing moral and emotional decisions into undesirable behavioural outcomes. Furthermore, connectional dysfunction of the area with other brain areas has been linked to learning processes involved in morality (Blair, 2007). This seems to explain the inability to learn what is considered morally adept and wrong shown in those with damage obtained in infancy (Anderson, Bechara, Damasio, Tranel and Damasio, 1999). Whatever its role, ample research support for prefrontal cortex dysfunction in antisocial behaviour somewhat validates its involvement and may question the extent to which an individual can be held accountable for such acti ons- which could have societal repercussions.