Role of Amygdala

Question 1

facts about amygdala

Answer 1

• located in medial temporal lobe
• part of the limbic system
• influences behaviours involved in emotion and motivation
• plays major role in how we perceive and responds to threats in the environment

Question 2

Amygdala and aggression
p1

Answer 2

• Coccaro studied people with intermittent explosive disorder (IED) in comparison to controls where each participant viewed images of faces whilst having an fMRI scan
  -participants with IED showed high levels of amygdala activity when they viewed angry faces in comparison to controls = demonstrates association between amygdala and processing of aggressive emotions

Question 3

what is IED
p1

Answer 3

• intermittent explosive disorder
• someones doesn’t have to feel anger to get an aggressive outburst
• unexpected and infrequent
• diagnostic statistical manual

Question 4

How Coccaro findings support biological explanation for behaviour
p1

Answer 4

• social cues of aggression are processed differently in those who have IED
• this dysfunction of the brain could explain aggressive tendencies that make them more vulnerable to criminal behaviour

Question 5

Amygdala and fear conditioning
What is fear conditioning?
P2

Answer 5

• learning to control behaviour
• aggression leads to punishment

Question 6

how dysfunction of the amygdala lead to aggressive behaviour
p2

Answer 6

• fear conditioning process is disrupted = person is more aggressive and anti social so more likely to commit crimes

Question 7

Gao et al research support
p2

Answer 7

• longitudinal study 1795 participants assessed for fear conditioning at 3 years old (thru a test of physiological arousal - sweating in response to painful noise)
• twenty years later they looked to see which P’s had been involved in criminal behaviour
• those who had committed crime at age of 23 showed no fear at 3 years old

Question 8

Findings from Raine
p3

Answer 8

• Raine found hemispheric asymmetry in amygdala functions
• Reduced left and greater right activity = differences produce unusual emotional responses like lack of fear and also empathy, remorse, guilt
• This was found in NGRI murderers compared to controls

Question 9

How Raine explains crim behav
P3

Answer 9

• lack of fear = not scared of repercussions
• lack of remorse/guilt = nothing stopping them from committing crimes

Question 10

Supporting evidence Strength

Answer 10

• Coccaro = people with IED had higher levels of amygdala activity when staring at angry faces than controls
• demonstrates an association between amygdala and processing of aggressive emotions
• social cues in brains of IED’s processed differently = aggressive behaviour = criminals

Question 11

Other brain areas Weakness

Answer 11

• There are other brain areas implicated in criminality
• Amygdala doesn’t operate on its own, its part of a wider system of connected brain structures
• functions together with orbitofrontal cortex, located in the prefrontal cortex which is associated with rational decision making and controlling inhibitions
• Raine found in prefrontal cortex of NGRI’s had lower glucose metabolism than controls
• Since prefrontal cortex linked with controlling inhibitions, amygdala not enough to explain alone

Question 12

Doesn’t explain non violent crimes

Answer 12

• explains aggressive crimes but struggles to explain other crimes like shoplifting, fraud where agression plays no role

Question 13

biological determinism weakness

Answer 13

• no control over how amygdala impacts behaviour = gives excuse for crime
• BUT also may allow for early interventions like treatments targeting amygdala dysfunction e.g. spotting children with no fear conditioning

Question 14

Biological reductionist Weakness

Answer 14

• reduces behaviour to tiny part of brain
• too simple to explain crime from just dysfunctional amygdala = doesn’t consider impact of other factors
• BUT can help understand its role in depth