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Stimulating the prefrontal cortex part of the brain responsible for the control of ideas and complex behaviors, may reduce the intention of a person to commit acts ] violence by more than 50 percent, according to a research of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and the University of Pennsylvania, published in the Journal of Neuroscience .
] Even, the use of a minimally invasive technique, called Transcranial stimulation continuous current, increased perception that acts of aggression physical and sexual were morally incorrect. 19659003] "The ability to manipulate complex and fundamental aspects of cognition and behavior from the outside of the body has enormous social, ethical and possibly legal implications one day," says lead author Researcher, Roy Hamilton, Associate Professor of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine
Violent crime is viewed from a public health perspective, adds the co-author of the report. article, the psychologist Adrian Raine. "We only did one 20-minute session and we saw an effect, what would happen if we had more sessions, what would happen if we did it three times a week for a month?"
A randomized, double-blind controlled trial of 81 healthy adults aged 18 and over. At the beginning of the study, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the first received stimulation in the prefrontal cortex for 20 minutes; the second, the placebo group, received a weak current for only 30 seconds
Researchers focused specifically on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the upper part of the frontal area of the brain ] because It is well documented that antisocial individuals have deficits in this region. "If you scan the brain of a delinquent, we do not really know if it's the brain deficit that leads to the behavior or if it's the other way around," says Olivia Choy, a professor. psychology assistant at NTU in Singapore. "One of the main goals of this study was to see if there was a causal role of this region of the brain in antisocial behavior."
After stimulation, the researchers presented participants with two hypothetical scenarios of physical and sexual aggression, and asked them to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 (where 0 was not a possibility and 10 was one hundred percent) the probability that they act as a protagonist in the
For those in the experimental group, the stimulation decreased their intention of to carry out a physical and sexual aggression of 47 and 70%, respectively. Participants also rated on the same scale from 0 to 10 how they thought the scenarios were morally wrong.
In theory, the results mean that simple biological interventions, separately or in conjunction with psychological interventions, can reduce violent behavior.
Despite the encouraging results, Choy makes it clear that more work is needed before being sure that this type of treatment will reduce the violence. The study must be replicated and then developed, says this expert.
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