Aggression and the EEG: A quantitative analysis.

Abstract

80 male offenders (mean age 33.93 yrs) at a psychiatric security hospital completed scales of aggression and hostility and were rated on previous history of assaulative behavior. Two psychiatrists agreed that 45 Ss had personality disorders and 35 were psychotic. Low frequency analysis was employed to obtain measures of EEG abundance at rest, during repetitive auditory stimulation, and during the cold pressor test. Neither within the sample as a whole nor within personality disorders alone was any relation found between resting abundance and aggression. More aggressive Ss tended to have a higher dominant frequency at rest, less increase in theta during monotonous stimulation, and greater alpha reactivity to cold pressor stimulation. Results are not in accord with the view that a high prevalence of theta activity characterizes aggressive offenders. The evidence of greater cortical excitability in aggressive patients suggests that persistent aggression is associated with a dominance of the ergotropic system. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)