Assessment of life history of aggression: development and psychometric characteristics

Intermittent explosive disorder (IED), as described in DSM-5, is the categorical expression of pathological impulsive aggression. Previous work has identified neurobiological correlates of the disorder in patterns of frontal-limbic brain activity and dysregulation of serotonergic neurotransmission. Given the importance of short-and-long range white matter connections of the brain in social and emotional behavior, studies of white matter connectivity in impulsive aggression are warranted. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies in the related conditions of antisocial and borderline personality disorder have produced preliminary evidence of disturbed white matter connectivity in these disorders, but to date there have been no DTI studies in IED. A total of 132 male and female adults between the ages of 18 and 55 years underwent Turboprop-DTI on a 3-Tesla MRI scanner. Of these, 42 subjects had IED, 40 were normal controls, and 50 were clinical psychiatric controls with psychiatric disorders without IED. All subjects were free of alcohol, psychotropic medications, or drugs of abuse. The diffusion tensor was calculated in each voxel and maps of fractional anisotropy (FA) were generated. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) were used to compare FA along the white matter skeleton among the three subject groups. IED was associated with lower FA in two clusters located in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) when compared with the psychiatric and healthy controls. Impulsive aggression and borderline personality disorder, but not psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder, was associated with lower FA in the two clusters within the SLF. In conclusion, IED was associated with lower white matter integrity in long-range connections between the frontal and temporoparietal regions.

The neurobiological underpinnings of intermittent explosive disorder (IED) are traditionally linked to deficiencies in the serotonergic system. In this study, we investigated the effects of escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), on brain activation during face processing. We expected that escitalopram would reduce amygdala activity in IED and in addition, we explored the effect in other social-emotional-related brain regions. A total of 17 subjects with current IED and 14 healthy controls participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced fMRI face processing study. The analysis focused on the faces compared to a fixation baseline contrast, and a factorial model with Group as between-subject and Drug as within-subject factor was tested. Group × Drug interaction effects were found in the amygdala (small volume corrected) and the left temporal parietal junction (TPJ; whole-brain corrected). Escitalopram increased amygdala activation in controls, but surprisingly not in IED. However, the TPJ showed increased activity in IED on escitalopram compared with placebo. The TPJ is associated with social-cognitive processes, such as perspective taking and empathy. The TPJ findings suggest that SSRI administration may reduce aggressive tendencies towards other people by enhancing these social-cognitive processes. Future research should further elucidate the long-term effects of SSRIs on various social-emotional tasks in IED.

The General Theory of Crime proposes that crime is explained by the combination of situational opportunity and lack of self-control. Impulsivity is one of the important components of selfcontrol. Because behavioral measures of impulsivity are becoming more commonly utilized to assess forensic populations, this manuscript provides an overview of three current behavioral measures. In doing so, an example of their application is provided using a group of individuals likely to come into contact with the legal system: adolescents with Conduct Disorder. Earlier age of onset of Conduct Disorder symptoms has been shown to be an important predictor of the persistence of poor outcomes into adulthood including participation in criminal activities. This study found differential behavioral profiles across distinct measures of impulsivity by those with childhood-versus adolescent-onset Conduct Disorder. Legal implications for defining behavioral deficits using behavioral measures of impulsivity and their current limitations are discussed. KeywordsImpulsivity; Conduct Disorder; Adolescence; Continuous Performance Task; Stop Task; Delay DiscountingThere is no such crime as a crime of thought; there are only crimes of actioñ Clarence DarrowTypically it is not an individual's goal to become incarcerated or otherwise experience consequences from the law, yet so frequently people behave in a manner that will most certainly lead to this outcome. Consider the case of Mr. A.W. who, in December 2007, was arrested after stealing a woman's Honda Accord in Durham, NC. Although auto theft is not rare, what is remarkable about the crime is that the theft occurred while the woman had just stepped out of her car to speak with police officers at an active crime scene that was being filmed by a crew from the local ABC news affiliate (WTVD, 2007). While this situation presented some opportunity for crime (the door was left open with the key in the ignition) it also included very clear deterrents (presence of police and being filmed). The failure of these deterrents to prevent this crime demonstrates that this individual observed the opportunity for immediate gain within this situation, yet lacked the ability to inhibit behavior despite the strong likelihood of negative consequences. This combination of opportunity and lack of control plays an important role in explaining criminal activity. In fact, the General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) proposes that all crime can be explained by the combination of situational opportunity and lack of self-control of the The following is an overview of some of the current approaches to behavioral impulsivity assessment that will provide a basis for understanding the potential utility of these types of instruments for informing the legal process. NIH Public Access Utility of Behavioral Measures of Impulsivity for Informing the Legal ProcessThere are a variety of aspects of the law in which impulsivity assessment may play a role, ranging from criminal culpability and sentencing, to requi...