Limbic System Flashcards
What is the limbic system?
A central part of the brain that is involved in processing emotional responses and also the cortex works to mediate levels of aggression by moderating the testosterone levels to environmental triggers
How does the amydala make aggression more likely?
If the amygdala malfunctions in any way due to a tumour, damage or atypical development then the levels of testosterone can be raised making aggression more likely
Who conducted the first study to support the limbic system?
Siegel and Victoroff
What did Siegel and Victoroff find?
Aggressive behaviour seems to be controlled by the limbic system and they also found evidence that the cerebral cortex played an important role in moderating the extent to which aggression was expressed so the limbic system has an important role to play in aggression
Who conducted the second study to support the limbic system?
Raine et al
What did Raine et al find?
Using PET scans he found that the 41 murders had abnormalities in the way that their limbic system functioned which suggests that the limbic system can be implicated in aggression
Who conducted the third study to support the limbic system?
Sumer et al
What did Sumer et al do and find?
A case study of a 14 year old girl who was diagnosed with a tumour in the limbic system and this was investigated due to epileptic seizures and she was behaving in an aggressive manner by expressing anger. When the tumour was treated with drugs the patient returned to normal levels of aggression suggesting that aggression is prompted by the limbic system
What is a strength of the limbic system?
Objective research so scientific as no opinions were used so the research is more valid and reliable
What are three limitations of the limbic system?
- came study research so can’t generalise and can’t check for reliability
- more research needs to be conducted to come to firm conclusions
- research is correlational
