Frontal Asymmetry Paper

67) The frontal lobes are described as the brain’s “orchestra leader” (Martin, 1998, p. 190), which would place them at the reins of controlling effective behaviour. Damage to the frontal lobes encompasses a wide range of symptoms including deficits in executive functioning, changes in personality, emotional expression and social interaction. This includes apathy and lack of spontaneity, inability to plan and modify the sequencing of behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. 2

From neurobiological point of view, Impulsive aggression is seen as a consequence of a failure in the regulation of negative emotions, such as anger, for example. This thinking of Disinhibition and hostility was found and documented by Grafman et al. (1996) in TBI patients with frontal lobe damage involving subcortical limbic structures. According to Davidson et al (2000), threatening environmental stimuli are transmitted to the amygdala, which makes projections to the basal ganglia, where they are integrated with information of the social context that comes from the orbitofrontal cortex. Appropriate behavioral responses can, therefore, be initiated through projections toward other cortical regions, hypothalamus or brain stem. Consequently, the orbitofrontal cortex and adjacent areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal

Some studies have shown that techniques geared toward facilitating emotional changes at the affective level produce more powerful and beneficial changes than those focused at the cognitive level alone (Watson & Rennie, 1994). However, by exploring the various characteristic of CBT and EFT, it can lead us to a more integrative and eclectic approach to anger management.

Anger in a business setting can cause one to act inappropriately or unwisely by blowing an incident out of proportion and possibly irrevocably damaging a career. Learning that at any moment we have the ability to consciously control our anger is empowering but not that easy to accomplish. Goleman asserts the body’s chemical reaction to stressful situations, relating back to our ancient ancestors, is the reason for this difficulty. The introduction of hormones into the body is not a gradual elevation, but a quick release relating back to our basic fight or flight response to environmental dangers. Every day, hormones are incrementally released into the body with each passing taxing stressful episode until a level is reached that triggers anger. He offers two weapons against anger outbursts. The first is method is to recognize, as early as possible, what is triggering the anger. This disruption of the anger

During our lifetime every one of us feels anger and aggression occasionally, some more than others, maybe as a child in the play ground or later as an adult when somebody cuts you up when you are driving along. But what causes anger and aggression and why do we all suffer from it? Well there are lots of different theories to what causes aggression and where aggressive behaviour comes from. So throughout this essay I will examine the different concepts and theories from different psychologist and develop and show an understanding of Aggression

Utilizing strategies and techniques to effectively manage anger can be difficult, the lack of anger management can result in serious consequences. The literature suggest that problems related to anger and aggression can cause difficulty in many areas of life. In addition, it can cause impaired functionality for

In “The Anatomy of a Violent Brain”, Wall Street Journal correspondent Jason Bellini covers some of the recent discoveries in neuropsychological research, particularly the role of the prefrontal cortex and how its activity relates to acts of violence.

To reiterate, the study found that the brain images of those who had been convicted of a murder with aggressive or antisocial disorders showed distinct brain activity compared to those who were labeled as normal. The brain scans revealed a relationship between the orbital frontal cortex, the anterior cingulated cortex, and the amygdala, which has a vast impact on the control of negative and brutal feelings. The orbital frontal cortex has been found to control and limit the motivation of passionate upheavals, the anterior cingulated cortex was found to deal with responses to conflict, and the amygdala is known to control reactions to fear. Similarly, in 1915, neurologist Sigmund Freud claimed that active stimuli in humans push them into action and that these active stimuli are

Due to its primary role in processing memory and emotional reactions, over the last decade and a half psychologists have been linking the amygdala to psychopathy. It is involved in aversive conditioning and instrumental learning and is thus involved in all the processes that, when impaired, produce the same functional impairments displayed by psychopaths. Two famous studies conducted by Tiihonen and Kiehl respectively have confirmed this. Tiihonen used a volumetric MRI to test and confirm the positive correlation between low amygdaloid volume and a high degree of psychopathy in violent criminals (measured by the Hare checklist-revised) while Kiehl used a functional MRI to prove reduced amygdala response during an emotional memory task in individuals who scored high on the Hare checklist-revised. However, both these studies along with numerous others were conducted using violent offenders as subjects rather than individuals with psychopathy. Although many psychopaths do exhibit violent tendencies, not all violent offenders are necessarily psychopaths. A study conducted by Raine is one of the few that did focus only on individuals exhibiting psychopathy. In his study Raine was able to show reduced prefrontal grey matter in his test subjects. Unfortunately though, he was unable to differentiate between grey matter in different regions of the prefrontal cortex. It is however clear that there is one region of the frontal cortex that could be

Violence is a physical act where we express anger and lead to injury, therefore control of violence is crucial in achieving world peace. We get our emotions, including anger or disappointment, from the amygdala of the limbic system. Together with the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, inhibition towards aggression can be achieved. (Psychology Today, 2013) In Raine’s study on brain activities of murderers and non-murderers, PET scans have shown that murdered have a less active prefrontal cortex. () With a weaker prefrontal cortex to act as a boundary to control all those anger within the mind, murderers tend to express their dissatisfaction easily. Another Raine’s study has shown that people who have antisocial personality disorder have brains

The importance of the amygdala in social cognitions has been examined in both primate and human studies. Use of primates to study the social brain suggests that the amygdala contributes to social cognition. Kluver and Bucy made large bilateral lesions in monkey brains made across the amygdala, temporal neocortex, and surrounding structure. After the lesion, the animals engaged in hypersexual behaviors, unusual tameness, and a lack of knowledge about emotional stimuli. Lesions exclusively targeting the monkey’s amygdala resulted in similar, but more subtle impairments. This suggest that the amygdala may play a role in emotions elicited by social cues. Studies of the amygdala’s role in human social cognition suggest that the temporal lobes process socially relevant facial information from humans. Emotions from facial expressions, in particular fear are projected to the amygdala. Studies using FMRI to examine typical subjects and subjects with amygdala damage support this theory. Individuals with amygdala damage have difficulty recognizing facial expressions, specifically negative emotions such as fear.

the left and right hemisphere in processing faces; 3) explanation of my opinion for 1).

The Anatomy of Violence presents the latest findings in the field of biological psychology and human behavior, focusing on brain chemistry, as it relates to human behavior, and offers great insight on how brains of those who commit acts of violence or crime differ from those who do not. Mr. Raine provides solid scientific data regarding the ways in which brain chemistry differs and how injuries can alter personality using medical MRI and fMRI and various neurotransmitter studies. A clear connection between human biology and behavior emerges, bringing

Many factors influence anger. Most anger is caused by a situation that makes one feel uncomfortable (Licata 14). This uncomfortable feeling could also be described as feeling threatened. Feeling threatened could lead to angry feelings because a threat can cause harm. Things that could make one feel threatened include disapproval, betrayal, deprivation, exploitation, manipulation, frustration, violence, and humiliation (Gaylin 95).

This is the natural way you respond to a certain situation and this is a good indicator of your psychological core. For example if you get fouled deliberately in football then you will get angry because it is unsportsmanlike and not in the rules of the game. But say if when you first join a football team you may be very quiet as you don’t know anyone and don’t want to make a bad impression to