Aggression Flashcards
What is aggressive behavior?
OVERT behavior with the INTENTION of inflicting damage upon someone else
affective aggression
stronger emotional component; link to hormones
Instrumental aggression
associated with reduced arousal; more planning
What comes first; agression or testosterone?
Aggression; the testosterone levels increase after aggressive acts
What happened in the sports game test
Fans were tested for testosterone levels one hour before the game. 15 minutes after the game, fans from the winning team were tested again and they had significantly higher testosterone than the fans of the losing team
What happens when a mouse chases an intruder away and wins?
The mouse has steady levels of T when chasing the intruder away but once the intruder leaves, T spikes up and then there is a rapid recovery to baseline levels
Why can’t testosterone contribute to the acts of aggression?
Because it comes after
What do they give the castrated mice in the testosterone study and why?
They give them a testosterone implant; this is because it provides baseline T since they don’t have balls anymore
**this is the control
What happens when a castrated mouse gets rid of an intruder?
The mouse shows some aggression but there are no peaks in T
Why do they inject T into the castrated mice?
They inject right when the intruder is removed so it mimics a regular mice T levels almost exactly
What type of formula gives you a rapid increase in T when injected?
T is lipophilic so if you mix it a type of sugar called cyclodextrin to make T water solluble
during the T experiment; the first 2 trials we see a peak in T after the intruder leaves; what happens the 3rd time the mouse sees the intruder?
They become more aggressive each time and have more increased T; it’s like the memory of the intruder is crystallized which is changing their behavior
**mice got T injections the firs two times but didn’t after that
Why do they stop giving testosterone after 2 times?
To see how T is responding to experience
T levels are influenced by ______ and can change ________
many social stimuli; can change within minutes
What can cause spikes in T levels?
visual threat, auditory threat, or watching others fighting
Point subtraction task
- a study measure T in humans
- humans were given a computer task and were told they were competing with someone for points
What is the measure of aggression in the point subtraction task?
When the participants are trying to take away points from the competitor
What happens in the wall street experiment?
Wall street peeps T levels were tested in the morning and then at the end of the day they measure P&L levels (how much money they made)
What are the T levels in the Wall street experiment showing?
they are showing that T is driving the positions these people are taking early in the day, which determines their profit and loss
What other ways could the Wall street experiment be seen?
- could P&L be driving T?
- could this have been influenced by the day before?
What kind of conclusion can you draw from the Wall street study?
you CANNOT draw the conclusion that T increases risk taking
- but P&L was higher in people that had higher T levels
In the wall street study, what does it mean to have a low SD?
It means you are staying consistent, either making money everyday or losing money everyday
More unpredictable P&L is associated with…
a higher secretion of cortisol
Testosterone coordinates ______ with _______
behavior; experience
Does the winner effect work in females?
maybe not? just because aggressive behavior is less intense doesn’t mean it’s not important
How is the female T test similar to the male T test?
In the female experiment, they had the mice chase away an intruder and measured the hormones later
What did they find from the female T test?
There is no difference in T between the females that chased away an intruder and those that didn’t
- what they did see was a decrease in progesterone and an increase in corticosterone
- **T IS NOT CHANGING; PROGESTERONE IS
What is the difference between the aggression and control group in the female study?
The aggression group saw an intruder and the control group didn’t get an intruder
How to measure brain activity in rodents
you can do PET and MRI scans on mice but they have to be anesthetized
Immediate early gene
- can identify cell types
- provides an estimate of neural activity
- transcription factors that are expressed after intense period of neural activity
How do you measure activity of a neuron?
with an electrode
A burst of activity does what?
It increases neural activity and makes the chart go all crazy
an increase of ______ occurs after burst of activity?
IEG expression
What can you do with mice that you can’t do with humans?
See which cells express the IEG
Some regions of the brain increase activity in…
multiple behavioral contexts
What is the amygdala active during?
aggression and mating
Some regions of the brain have more…
context specific responses (POA and anterior hypothalamus)
pharmacological approach
- like that they were doing with the mice
- can target specific types of receptors
- not always clear how drug of interest will affect activity of neurons
electrical approach
- can increase the activity of neurons in a specific area w/ an electrode
- hard to selectively control a specific cell type
In the estrogen receptors example, where were halorhodopsin channels expressed?
in neurons expressing estrogen receptor in the VMH
