6.1.1 Brain injury

Question 1

What is the PFC responsible for?

Pfc= Pre Frontal Cortex

Answer 1

• Planning
• personality
• problem-solving
• self-control
• emotional control + regulation
• knowing right from wrong

Question 2

If damaged, how could PFC lead to criminality?

Answer 2

> Change in personality can lead to aggression
Incr impulsitivity so incr in impulsive crimes
Not knowing right from wrong may lead to skewed perception of certain crimes not being wrong

Question 3

What is the hypothalamus responsible for?

Answer 3

• Thermal regulation
• hormonal control

Question 4

If damaged, how could the hypothalamus lead to criminality?

Answer 4

> Incr temp causes irritation + aggression bc of being too warm
Imbalance hormones could lead to outbursts leading to crimes

Question 5

What is the amygdala responsible for?

Answer 5

Works w limbic system to send physiological fight/flight response prep to PFC
- Encode memories in association w emotional rememberance + emotional control

Question 6

If damaged, how could the amygdala lead to criminality?

Answer 6

> Poor regulation of fight/flight + inability to sense danger = incr violent, impulsive crime
Inability to understand emotion correctly = incr aggression eg if they forget punishment/ guilt associated w past crime, recidivism likely to occur

Question 7

Why might young people be more at risk of a traumatic brain injury?

Answer 7

> Take more risks w their actions eg frontal lobe develops slowly, only fully at 25, which contains PFC so decision-making is developed slower.
SO Suggests slower developing of decision making + heightened impulsivity leads to doing physically dangerous acts eg skydiving/ car racing, incr risk of brain injury.

Question 8

EACH- Evidence

Answer 8

1. P- Charles Whitman supports
   E- Suffered from tumour pressing against amygdala + shot 16 ppl incl himself
   E- Demonstrates how brain injury can lead to criminal behaviour because one of the amygdala’s roles is emotional control, if damaged it could explain Whitman’s murderous outburst.
2. P- Williams et al (2010) supports
   E- Found that 60% of 196 prisoners recently suffered brain injury
   E- Over half who committed crimes had brain injury, showing it can lead to criminal behaviour

Question 9

EACH- Application

Answer 9

P- Yes
E-States brain injury can lead to crim behav
E- So when sentencing a criminal, justice system may reconsider their sentencing due to not being fully accountable

Question 10

EACH- Critisms

Answer 10

1.P- Reductionist
E-James Fallon wrongly identified his brain as psychopathic from MRI scans
E-W. shows that it’s possible to have brain differences w/o behav therefore showing we can’t be sure brain injury = crim
2.P-Deterministic
E-Says crim behav due to brain injury, decr our free will
E-W, doesn’t account for ppl being able to think for themselves and commit crimes based off of their own decision making

Question 11

EACH-How

Answer 11

1.P- High int V
E-Case studies use brain scanning techniques
E- Highly objective + scientific asw as in scientific envir to limit EVs so can better establish a cause and effect between BI and criminality
2.P- Use of case studies
E- Such as case of Charles Whitman
E- W, case studies are focussed on individuals, not easily generalisable to all criminals with brain injuries as the main explanation for their behaviour as each criminal has different brain areas affected/ backgrounds etc outside of the case study criminals that could’ve led them to crime

E- Due to using correlational data, behaviour prior to brain injury is assumed to be different
E-W, no cause + effect data between brain injury causing criminality