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Intro to Forensic Psychology > L3 - Neurobiological Risk Factors for Antisocial and Violent Behaviour > Flashcards

L3 - Neurobiological Risk Factors for Antisocial and Violent Behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

What are two types of genetic influence?

A
  1. Behavioural genetics (identical twin studies, adoption studies, twins separated at birth)
  2. Molecular genetics (candidate genes)
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2
Q

What percentage of the population are twins?

A

2%

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3
Q

What is another name for dizygotic twins?

A

Fraternal twins.

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4
Q

What percentage of twins are fraternal/dizygotic?

A

92%

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5
Q

In dizygotic twins, how many eggs are fertilised by how many sperm cells?

A

2 eggs are fertilised by 2 separate sperm cells

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6
Q

In monozygotic twins, how many eggs are fertilised by how many sperm cells?

A

1 egg is fertilised by 1 sperm. The fertilised egg later splits into two identical eggs.

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7
Q

In twin studies, the contribution of 3 factors to antisocial behaviour is worked out. Which 3 factors are they?

A
  • Genetics (heritability) h^2
  • Shared environment c^2
  • Non shared environment e^2
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8
Q

Heritability for ASB ranges between what across all different studies?

A

Between around 0.4-0.5.

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9
Q

What are the heritabilities for aggressive and non aggressive ASB?

A
  1. 65 for aggressive

0. 48 for non-aggressive

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10
Q

What are the heritabilities for reactive and proactive aggression?

A

Reactive - 0.39

Proactive - 0.50

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11
Q

Heritability for early-onset ASB is ______ , especially when it occurs across many settings, is persistent and severe and involves psychopathic tendencies. These children have a heritability of _______.

A

Strongest, 0.75

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12
Q

What is the typical design of most adoption studies?

A

Experimental group involves foster children who’s biological parents are criminals.
Control group are foster children who’s biological parents are not criminals.

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13
Q

What results would have to be shown to conclude a significant genetic influence of ASB in twin studies and why?

A

If the experimental group shows higher levels of ASB than the control group.
Because the experimental group’s biological parents are criminals.

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14
Q

What did Mednick et al., (1984) find about the heritability of property crimes?

A

Significant positive correlation between adoptees and their biological parents for convictions of property crimes.
No such correlation found for violent crimes.

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15
Q

Adoption studies have robust findings despite differences in what?

A
  • age of participants
  • study periods
  • country
  • measures of ASB
  • study design
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16
Q

Caspi et al., (2002) found gene-environment interactions between the low activity MAOA allele and childhood maltreatment for which aspects?

A
  • conduct disorder
  • conviction for violent offences
  • disposition towards violence
  • antisocial personality disorder symptoms
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17
Q

The low allele of the MAOA gene has been shown to be linked to what?

A
  • higher levels of aggression following provocation (McDermott et al., 2009)
  • greater brain response following social exclusion (Eisenberger et al., 2007)
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18
Q

Raine studied which biosocial effects on violent crime?

A

Birth complications and maternal rejection.

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19
Q

What did Raine find when studying the biosocial influences on violent crime?

A

Significant interaction between biological (birth complications) factors and social factors (maternal rejection) increased the rate of violent crime convictions.

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20
Q

Why might birth complications lead to increased violent behaviour?

A

Those exposed to hypoxia have decreased neural densitiy, believed to lead to learning, decision making and emotion regulation deficits.

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21
Q

Why might maternal rejection lead to increased violent behaviour?

A

Lack of love, care and a nurturing environment may bring out cold, aggressive traits.

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22
Q

Which factors were accounted for in studies which still found a link between smoking during pregnancy and antisocial behaviour?

A
  • Low socio-economic status
  • parental crime and ASB
  • low maternal education level
  • bad parenting
  • mother’s age at child’s birth
  • family size
  • bad parenting
  • family problems
  • parental psychiatric diagnoses
  • genetic influences
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23
Q

What might be the mechanisms behind smoking during pregnancy and increases in antisocial behaviour?

A

Babies, infants or adolescents exposed to nicotine found to have deficits in gray matter volume in key cortical and subcortical areas involved in emotion regulation.

When nicotine passes through the placenta, a reduction of uterus blood flow eventuates. This leads to a decrease in the nutrients and oxygen delivered to the foetus, (hypoxia), which can cause death of neurons.

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24
Q

Which indirect measure of brain development was used by Jaddoe et al., (2007) to suggest effect of nicotine exposure on brain development?

A

Head circumference. Reduced circumference in babies exposed to nicotine prenatally.

25
Q

Adolescents exposed prenatally to nicotine show what? (+studies)

A
  • lower amygdala volume (Haghighi et al., 2013)
  • lower cortical thickness of the orbitofrontal cortex (Toro et al., 2008)
  • Increased drug experimentation (Loftipour et al., 2009)
26
Q

Deficits in brain regions as a result of nicotine exposure leads to what impairments?

A

Neuropsychological impairments in:

  • executive functioning
  • memory
  • attention
27
Q

What does FAS stand for?

A

Foetal Alcohol Sydrome

28
Q

What are some physical characteristics of FAS?

A
  • small head
  • folds of skin between eyes and nose
  • smooth area between nose and upper lip
  • thin upper lip
  • small eye openings
  • short nose
  • flat upper part of the nose
  • underdeveloped jaw
29
Q

What are some symptoms of FAS?

A
  • Craniofacial abnormalities
  • Growth retardation
  • CNS dysfunction, leading to learning disabilities and low IQ.
30
Q

What did Popova’s (2016) meta-analysis show about the main disorders caused by FAS?

A

ASB and conduct disorder is the most common in individuals with foetal alcohol syndrome.

31
Q

Define maltreatment according to the World Health Organisation.

A

All forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.

32
Q

Name 4 types of maltreatment.

A

Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Sexual abuse
Neglect

33
Q

What is neglect?

A

A persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or developmental needs.

34
Q

All types of maltreatment are linked with what?

A
  • Poorer mental health

- Elevated levels of delinquency

35
Q

The majority of maltreated children experienced how many types of abuse?

A

More than one

36
Q

How do maltreated children react when they see angry faces, compared to children who have not been maltreated?

A

The amygdalae of maltreated children are hyperactive - far more active than those of ‘normal’ children.

37
Q

According to De Brito et al., (2013), what were maltreated children more likely to have?

A

Conduct disorder and (amygdala?) hyperactivity.

38
Q

Why might maltreated children be more likely to turn to violence?

A

Increased activity in amygdala when shown angry faces –> when experiencing disagreements in life, they may be more emotionally unstable and therefore react much more than they should.

39
Q

De Brito et al., (2013) says that child maltreatment leads to decreased gray matter volume in which regions?

A

Medial orbitofrontal cortex

Left middle temporal gyrus

40
Q

Kelly et al., (2015) linked decreases in gray matter volume in maltreated children to what?

A

Peer problems. Maltreated children have decreased gray matter in areas needed for emotion and decision making, which impairs their ability to interact effectively with peers.

41
Q

How do maltreated children react when they see happy faces, compared to children who have not been maltreated?

A

Hyperactivity in amygdalae. Seems that the amygdalae of maltreated children activate immediately in response to any information about imminent danger.

42
Q

How do reactions of amygdala activity in maltreated children tell us about the nature of their maltreatment?

A

The more sensitive the amygdala is in response to happy/angry faces, the longer the duration of abuse

43
Q

What is the left middle temporal gyrus important for, and what does this mean for maltreated children with reduced gray matter volume in this area?

A

Autobiographical memory. Possible that the maltreatment has decreased the encoding of autobiographical memories - easier for children to forget/harder for them to clearly remember what has happened to them.

44
Q

Did maltreated children show overt symptoms whilst at mainstream schools? What does this show about the effects of maltreatment on overt symptoms

A

No. Maltreatment may be a pre-disposition to overt psychological symptoms later in life.

45
Q

Which disorders does maltreatment increase the risk of later in life?

A

Depression and substance abuse among others.

46
Q

What did Glenn and Raine (2014) show about the (almost causal) link between ventral prefrontal cortex dysfunction and paedophilia?

A

When the vPFC was displaced by a tumour in 40 year old schoolteacher Michael, his overt paedophilic behaviour emerged. Whenever the tumour was cut out (resected) his behaviour returned to normal.

47
Q

What does ASPD stand for?

A

Antisocial personality disorder

48
Q

What is ASPD?

A

A personality disorder that indexes a life-long pattern of antisocial behaviour

49
Q

What are the symptoms of ASPD?

A
  • impulsivity
  • repeated criminality
  • consistent irresponsibility
  • repeated fights/assaults
  • recklessness
  • deceitfulness
  • lack of remorse
50
Q

According to Andersen et al., (1999) and Meyers et al., (1992), lesions in vmPFC leads to changes in what in individuals with acquired antisocial personality disorder?

A
  • Behaviour
  • Affect
  • Personality
51
Q

What is the vmPFC?

A

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

52
Q

What is the vmPFC important for?

A

Processing of risk and fear

53
Q

Children with conduct problems show reductions in which brain regions?

A

Medial PFC

54
Q

Decreased gray matter in the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with what?

A

Substance use disorders

55
Q

What are the two theories linking low resting heart rate with ASB?

A

Fearlessness Theory (Raine, 1993)

Sensation-Seeking Theory (Quay, 1965; Eysenk, 1997)

56
Q

How does the Fearlessness Theory explain the link between low resting heart rate and antisocial behaviour?

A

Low resting heart rate is associated with low fear, meaning early fear conditioning may not have developed normally. This would mean consequences of ASB are not feared/aversive, increasing the likelihood of engagement in AS behaviour.

57
Q

How does the Sensation-Seeking Theory explain the link between low resting heart rate and antisocial behaviour?

A

Low resting heart rates are linked with with low autonomic arousals, which is an unpleasant physiological state. Therefore, activities which increase heart rate and arousal are engaged in to avoid/reduce the uncomfortable state

58
Q

What did Birbaumer et al., (2005) find about deficient fear conditioning in psychopathy

A

Healthy controls showed enhanced activation in the limbic-prefrontal circuit (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and anterior cingulate) during the acquisition of fear. (lower activation of these areas in psychopathic individuals

Intro to Forensic Psychology (10 decks)

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