Raine

Question 1

Aim:

Answer 1

Using PET scanning on murderers and non-murderers to see if areas of the brain related to violence light up when doing a specific task

Question 2

PET scanning:

Answer 2

Pps are injected with a radioactive tracer that goes into the blood and lights up different parts of the body. Once reached the brain, the parts of the brain with the most energy will be lit.

Question 3

Sample of murderers:

Answer 3

• 39 men
• 2 women
• mean age: 34.3

Question 4

What had the murderers been charged with:

Answer 4

Manslaughter but not guilty for reasons of insanity

Question 5

Sample of non-murderers:

Answer 5

• 39 men
• 2 women
• 6 had schizophrenia
• mean age was similar to murderers

Question 6

What did pps not take for 2 weeks prior to experiment?

Answer 6

Medication of any kind

Question 7

What did pps have to do during the PET scan?

Answer 7

A continuous performance task (CPT). This involved watching numbers and letters and hitting a button when a specific number/ letter appeared

Question 8

How long did the CPT continue for?

Answer 8

32 mins

Question 9

What happened after the PET?

Answer 9

10 horizontal “slices” of the brain were taken (1cm long)

Question 10

Results:

Answer 10

The limbic system (responsible for emotions, processing info., and motivation) had abnormal amounts of energy in the criminals

Also less energy in other areas of the brain than non-murderers