ReviewBrain sciences2022
Modulating Behavioural and Self-Reported Aggression with Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation: A Literature Review.
Review in Brain sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Anger and Aggression.Aggressive behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Targeting aggression with prefrontal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Prefrontal tDCS modulates risk-taking in male violent offenders.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- The influence of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism on prefrontal TDCS effects on aggression.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Neurobiological Determinism versus Human Freedom: Competing Explanatory Models and the Hope for Moral Enhancement.The Journal of medicine and philosophy · 2026Article
- Dissociating prefrontal contribution to reactive and proactive aggression: a transcranial direct current stimulation study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Modulating interhemispheric prefrontal dynamics of aggressive behavior: Sex differences and the association with personal disposition.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Mapping Lesion-Related Human Aggression to a Common Brain Network.Biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Neurofeedback and meditation technology in outpatient offender treatment: a feasibility and usability pilot study.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Effect of Multi-Session Prefrontal Cortical Stimulation on Aggression: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group Trial.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Recent advancements in noninvasive brain modulation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.Neural regeneration research · 2023Review
- Dimensions of Pathological Aggression: From Neurobiology to Therapy.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Correlations between cortical gyrification and schizophrenia symptoms with and without comorbid hostility symptoms.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- How can (or could) biology inform more effective parenting interventions for childhood aggression?Aggression and violent behaviorArticle
- Neurofunctional Correlates of Hostility in Adolescents With Externalizing Disorders: Implications for Clinical Assessment and Intervention.Basic and clinical neuroscienceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aggressive behaviour is at the basis of many harms in society, such as violent crime. The efforts to explain, study, and possibly reduce aggression span various disciplines, including neuroscience. The specific brain networks which are involved in the modulation of aggressive behaviour include cortical asymmetry and brain areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Recent non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) research suggests that both transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) can play a role in the modulation of aggressive behaviour by directly changing brain activity. In this review, we systematically explore and discuss 11 experimental studies that aimed to modulate aggressive behaviour or self-reported aggression using NIBS. Out of these 11 studies, nine significantly up- or downregulated aggression by using tDCS or cTBS targeting the DLPFC, VLPFC or VMPFC. The potential applications of these findings span both the clinical and the forensic psychological domains. However, the results are limited by the methodological heterogeneity in the aggression measures used across the studies, and by their generally small sample sizes. Future research should consider improving the localization and specificity of NIBS by employing neuro-navigational instruments and standardized scoring methods.
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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.