ArticleBrain structure & function2020
Morphology of the criminal brain: gray matter reductions are linked to antisocial behavior in offenders.
Article in Brain structure & function, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- The analysis of the prefrontal cortex and its facilitator role of violence: conclusions of a systematic review and meta-analysis based on neuroimaging results.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Psychopathy and medial frontal cortex: A systematic review reveals predominantly null relationships.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Neural correlates of aggression in personality disorders from the perspective of DSM-5 maladaptive traits: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Prefrontal tDCS modulates risk-taking in male violent offenders.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Associations of brain structure with psychopathy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Criminal Behavior in Frontotemporal Dementia: A Multimodal MRI Study.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Neuroanatomical correlates of aggressiveness: a case-control voxel- and surface-based morphometric study.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- A preliminary transcriptomic analysis of the orbitofrontal cortex of antisocial individuals.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Article
- Elevated levels of serotonin 5-HTEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Empathy deficit in male patients with schizophrenia and its relationships with impulsivity and premeditated violence.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Clarifying the synergistic effects of emotion dysregulation and inhibitory control on physical aggression.Human brain mapping · 2022Article
- A multidimensional examination of psychopathy traits and gray matter volume in adults.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2022Article
- Changes of Brain Structures and Psychological Characteristics in Predatory, Affective Violent and Nonviolent Offenders.Tomography (Ann Arbor, Mich.) · 2022Article
- Prenatal maternal stress and offspring aggressive behavior: Intergenerational and transgenerational inheritance.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Review
- Structural Deficits in the Frontotemporal Network Associated With Psychopathic Traits in Violent Offenders With Schizophrenia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Neuroscience, Empathy, and Violent Crime in an Incarcerated Population: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
- Understanding Brain Mechanisms of Reactive Aggression.Current psychiatry reports · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Aggression and psychopathy are multifaceted conditions determined interpersonal and antisocial factors. Only a few studies analyze the link between these separate factors and specific brain morphology distinctively. A voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was performed on 27 violent offenders and 27 controls aiming to associate sub-features of aggressive and psychopathic behavior with specific gray matter volumes. Trait aggression was assessed using two self-report tests (Aggression Questionnaire, AQ, and Reactive-Proactive-Aggression Questionnaire, RPQ) and psychopathy with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Total and sub-scale scores of these tests were correlated to the brain morphometry of the offenders group in separate analyses. It was found that psychopathic behavior was negatively correlated with prefrontal gray matter volume and that this result was primarily driven by the antisocial behavior sub-scale of the PCL-R. Furthermore, less gray matter in right superior frontal and left inferior parietal regions with increasing antisocial behavior could be observed. One cluster comprising the right middle and superior temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with both, reactive aggression and antisocial behavior. These results outline (1) the importance of distinctively analyzing sub-features that contribute to aggressive and psychopathic behavior, given that the negative correlation of psychopathy global scores with prefrontal volume was driven by one single facet of the PCL-R scale (antisocial behavior). Moreover, these results indicate (2) fronto-temporo-parietal network deficits in antisocial, criminal offenders, with a particular strong effect in the temporal lobe.
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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.