Abstract
Different people make different responses when they face a frustrating situation: some punish others (extrapunitive), while others punish themselves (intropunitive). Few studies have investigated the neural structures that differentiate extrapunitive and intropunitive individuals. The present fMRI study explored these neural structures using two different frustrating situations: an ego-blocking situation which blocks a desire or goal, and a superego-blocking situation which blocks self-esteem. In the ego-blocking condition, the extrapunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating that these individuals prefer emotional processing. On the other hand, the intropunitive group (n = 9) showed greater activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, possibly reflecting an effortful control for anger reduction. Such patterns were not observed in the superego-blocking condition. These results indicate that the prefrontal cortex is the source of individual differences in aggression direction in the ego-blocking situation.
Highlights
Anger often drives us to attack somebody who obstructs our goals
The second considered which factors in the general aggression model contribute to individual differences in the aggression direction
Our conclusions should be taken with caution because the fMRI method localizes brain regions that correlate with experimental manipulations and the present study employed a task which required multiple cognitive and affective functions
Summary
Anger often drives us to attack somebody who obstructs our goals. Psychologists have discussed how aggressive behaviors emerge for nearly one hundred years. The septal nuclei in the midbrain are involved in aggressive behaviors, possibly by modulating neural excitations of the hypothalamus [7], while the central and medial nuclei of the amygdala appear to have different roles in aggression; the former functions to inhibit defensive rage, while the latter enhances it [8]. The lateral part of the prefrontal cortex appears to mediate reactive aggression by modulating neuronal activity of the medial hypothalamus via the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus [14], while the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex are known to interact with the medial nucleus of the amygdala and the medial hypothalamus, both of which mediate aggressive behavior [15]. The BNST, which receives inputs from the hypothalamus and amygdala, is associated with anger-related emotional processing [16], while the nucleus accumbens appears to affect aggression via neurochemical modulations of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and endogenous opioids [17]
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