ArticleBMC neuroscience2017
From provocation to aggression: the neural network.
Article in BMC neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis on shared and distinct neural correlates of the decision-making underlying altruistic and retaliatory punishment.Human brain mapping · 2021Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence for a joint neural mechanism underlying response inhibition and state anger.Human brain mapping · 2020Pooled it
- Neural networks of aggression: ALE meta-analyses on trait and elicited aggression.Brain structure & function · 2019Pooled it
- Targeting aggression with prefrontal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- The influence of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism on prefrontal TDCS effects on aggression.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Brain reactivity during aggressive response in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder treated with a selective progesterone receptor modulator.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Neurobiological Determinism versus Human Freedom: Competing Explanatory Models and the Hope for Moral Enhancement.The Journal of medicine and philosophy · 2026Article
- Neuropsychobiological transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggression in mental disorders across the life span.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Dissociating prefrontal contribution to reactive and proactive aggression: a transcranial direct current stimulation study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Associations of brain structure with psychopathy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- The impact of two computer-aided emotion regulation strategies on risky driving behaviors in a virtual environment.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Modulating interhemispheric prefrontal dynamics of aggressive behavior: Sex differences and the association with personal disposition.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Using Machine Learning to Determine a Functional Classifier of Retaliation and Its Association With Aggression.JAACAP open · 2025Article
- Frustrative Nonreward: Behavior, Circuits, Neurochemistry, and Disorders.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Review
- Trait Aggression is Reflected by a Lower Temporal Stability of EEG Resting Networks.Brain topography · 2024Article
- A quasi-experimental study in sibling dyads: differential provocation-aggression patterns in the interactive taylor aggression paradigm.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Development of social feedback processing and responses in childhood: an fMRI test-replication design in two age cohorts.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Article
- Association Between Aggression and Differential Functional Activity of Neural Regions Implicated in Retaliation.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2023Article
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for the Modulation of Aggressive Behavior-A Systematic Review of Randomized Sham-Controlled Studies.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Cerebellar Grey Matter Volumes in Reactive Aggression and Impulsivity in Healthy Volunteers.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn-vivo observations of neural processes during human aggressive behavior are difficult to obtain, limiting the number of studies in this area. To address this gap, the present study implemented a social reactive aggression paradigm in 29 healthy men, employing non-violent provocation in a two-player game to elicit aggressive behavior in fMRI settings.
resultsParticipants responded more aggressively after high provocation reflected in taking more money from their opponents. Comparing aggression trials after high provocation to those after low provocation revealed activations in neural circuits involved in aggression: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the insula. In general, our findings indicate that aggressive behavior activates a complex, widespread brain network, reflecting a cortico-limbic interaction and overlapping with circuits underlying negative emotions and conflicting decision-making. Brain activation during provocation in the OFC was associated with the degree of aggressive behavior in this task.
conclusionTherefore, data suggest there is greater susceptibility for provocation, rather than less inhibition of aggressive tendencies, in individuals with higher aggressive responses. This further supports the hypothesis that reactive aggression can be seen as a consequence of provocation of aggressive emotional responses and parallel evaluative regulatory processes mediated mainly by the insula and prefrontal areas (OFC, mPFC, dlPFC, and ACC) respectively.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.