Abstract
Aggression is a common behavior which has frequently been explained as involving changes in higher level information processing patterns. Although researchers have started only recently to investigate information processing in healthy individuals while engaged in aggressive behavior, the impact of aggression on information processing beyond an aggressive encounter remains unclear. In an event-related potential study, we investigated the processing of facial expressions (happy, angry, fearful, and neutral) in an emotional Stroop task after experimentally provoking aggressive behavior in healthy participants. Compared to a non-provoked group, these individuals showed increased early (P2) and late (P3) positive amplitudes for all facial expressions. For the P2 amplitude, the effect of provocation was greatest for threat-related expressions. Beyond this, a bias for emotional expressions, i.e., slower reaction times to all emotional expressions, was found in provoked participants with a high level of trait anger. These results indicate significant effects of aggression on information processing, which last beyond the aggressive encounter even in healthy participants.
Highlights
Aggression is a common social behavior in both humans and animals
In an event-related potential study, we investigated the processing of facial expressions in an emotional Stroop task after experimentally provoking aggressive behavior in healthy participants
BEHAVIORAL DATA IN THE EMOTIONAL STROOP TASK Beyond the large group differences between provoked and nonprovoked participants in the positive components of the event-related potential (ERP), we found behavioral effects related to the experimental induction of aggression
Summary
Aggression is a common social behavior in both humans and animals. Aggression and violence are among the leading causes of death worldwide (e.g., more than 1.6 million lives in 2000) and exert enormous economic costs (Krug et al, 2002). Neuroscientific research has mainly focused on pathologic aggression (e.g., Raine and Venables, 1988; Raine, 1989; Blair, 2004). Aggression is common in psychologically and neurologically healthy individuals. Aggression is necessary for human survival as it serves important purposes of allowing an individual to compete effectively for limited resources and to establish and maintain his/her position in society. The omnipresence of aggression and its impact on our everyday lives highlights the importance of finding an explanation of its causes and underlying mechanisms
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