bio explanations: brain injury Flashcards
what is a brain injury?
any impact on the brain structure that can affect its functionality
how are brain injuries categorised?
acquired traumatic brain injury is when brain injury is a result of external force eg blow to head and non-traumatic is when it’s from an illness
describe the role of the frontal lobe
planning,decision making,problem solving
describe the role of the temporal lobe
memory,speech,hearing,understanding language
describe the role of the parietal lobe
perception, visuospatial processes, object classification, spelling and number
describe the role of the occipital lobe
vision
visual processing
colour identification
describe the role of the cerelellum
gross and fine motor skills
balance
hand eye coordination
describe the role of the brain stem
regulates body temp
breathing/heart rate
describe the role of the pre-frontal cortex
personality expression
inhibits amygdala
who was phineas gage?
1st documented case of acquired brain injury that affected behaviour in a negative way. used to be likeable with even temperament until rod passed thru his skull and destroyed frontal lobe- became more irritable and rude
Describe Williams t al (20210) findings whether there is a link to brain injuries and criminal and anti-social behaviour
Williams et al (2010) argued brain injuries might account for why some crimes are committed. For example, he found 60% of 192 prisoners had some sort of brain injury. This means that, adults with brain injury were relatively younger at entry into prison systems and reported higher rates of recidivism. They suggested these injuries affect the development of temperament ,social judgement and ability to control impulses contributing to greater risk taking behaviour. However, Williams et al research cannot explain exactly what areas of the brain and which effects they could have. However, williams et al research doesn’t explain which areas of the brain and which effects there can be before implications.
what did Brower and Price (2001) find?
review of case studies investigating the link between frontal lobe damage and criminal behaviour and concluded that frontal lobe injury will cause increased impulsive aggression but NO CLEAR EVIDENCE IT CAN PREDICT CRIME
what did Grafman et al find (1996)
studied brain injuries from men in the vietnam war and found veterans with the most damage to the frontal lobe were more likely to be aggressive- however little evidence whether behaviour ppt were aggressive before the study. however other research has een unable to disprove a cause and effect between TMI and aggressive behaviour
what did kreutzer et al find? 1991
unable to prove/disprove cause and effect between TBI and violence with 74 ppt and found 20% had been arrestd pre-injury and 10% post and most arrest occurred after use of alcohol and drugs
Describe brain injury as an explanation of crime and anti-social behaviour
TBI has been shown to change certain behaviours esp in parts of the brain that control impulse and decision making. This can be seen in the study of Phineas Gage who damaged his frontal lobe after an accident. His behaviour changed to hostile and aggressive and quick to temper .therefore, people with TBI may be more vulnerable to making poor decisions and being impulsive which can increase liklihood of criminal behaviour. eg Williams et al 60&
strength for brain injury as an explanation for crime (frontal lobe supporting evidence) PEE
a strength for brain injury as an explanation of crime is the supporting evidence from Brower and Price. they studied articles relating to evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction in violent males and females, finding that anti social / criminal behaviour relates to frontal lobe damage. therefore, this is a strength because the biological explanation suggests that deficits to the frontal lobe prevent inhibition of amygdala and the individual is unable to anticipate consequences or correctly perceive emotions so they act impulsively. however studies looking at brain damage can be reductionist as they don’t take into account other factors that my affect criminal behaviour such as being young and male or having PTSD. so there may be other factors contributing to criminal behaviour.
what is an application for brain injury being an explanation for crime?
pre screening of young people when they first offend can allow punishment to be reduced as the individual has less responsibility of their crime and allows more awareness of brain injuries in the criminal justice system.
weakness of brain injury as an explanation for crime (opposing study) PEE
a weakness of brain injury as an explanation of crime is the study by Krutezer et al who were unable to establish a cause and effect between TBI and violence. for example, only 20% out of 74 patients had been arrested pre injury and only 10% post injury. most arrests were after the use of alcohol or drugs. therefore, this is a weakness because it suggests that crime could be due to a confounding variable, and the lack of cause and effect reduces the internal validity of the findings. furthermore, the brain scanning evidence being shown often do not show brain scans of the ppts before the comparisons are made reducing the validity of brain scan evidence. however, different methodologies have been used to study this and come to similar conclusions about frntal lobe damage and anti-social behaviour. for instance, case studies like phineas gage also these are useful as it can lead to applications on the neg impacts of TBI leading to rehabilitation.
describe one strength and one weakness of using case studies to study brain injury and criminal behaviour
a strength of a case study is that it can provide in depth and detailed info in rare and unique cases/ this means that researchers can study the effects of brain injury in an ethical way as they can’t deliberately injure someone to see their effects to understand how specific head injuries can contribute to criminal and anti-social behaviour.
a weakness of using case studies to investigate criminal behaviour is that they cannot be generalised to the wider population due to the small atypical sample. this is because case studies typically consist of unique individuals where we have little to no understanding of their behaviour before so we cannot make valid conclusions or link any findings to real life.
