Violent tendencies may be curbed by brain stimulation

Studies have shown that some tense tendencies people have certain deficits in their prefrontal cortex.This experiment was intended to see the effect of stimulation of this region on the brain For this study, 81 healthy adults were recruited from Philadelphia, divided randomly into two groups, and half of the group received a minimally invasive technique called direct transcranial stimulation. received a painless electrical current at their prefrontal cortex for 20 minutes.The other group did not receive stimulation but received a weak current for 30 seconds. None of the participants knew whether they were receiving the real stimulation or the low placebo current of 30 seconds.

Subsequently, all participants were exposed to two hypothetical scenarios. The first is a physical aggression. A person took his girlfriend to two years at a dinner. As he leaves for the bathroom, he returns to find a friend of his chat with his girlfriend. The scene ends with a heated debate between the two men and the boyfriend strikes the other man on his head with a bottle of beer. The second scenario is that of a sexual assault. A couple is on a first date watching a movie at the woman's house. They begin to kiss during the movie and when the woman asks the man to stop, he assails her sexually despite her protests.

All participants are now asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 the probability that they will act as the violent ones. protagonists in the scenarios. On the scale 0 meant no chance while 10 meant a 100 percent chance. Among people who had brain stimulation, the likelihood of considering a physical or sexual assault was 47% and 70% lower, respectively, than those who had not received brain stimulation.

Adrian Raine, psychologist and co-author of the study Professor Penn Integrates Knowledge, in his release, said: "Much of the focus on understanding the causes of crime has been social causality. This is important, but research on brain imaging and genetics has also shown that half of the variance of violence can be attributed to biological factors. We are trying to find benign biological interventions that society will accept, and transcranial direct current stimulation is a minimal risk. This is not a frontal lobotomy. In fact, we say the opposite – that the anterior part of the brain needs to be better connected to the rest of the brain. "

The authors of the study add in their work that this study only concerned healthy individuals and the effects of this stimulation on individuals inclined to violence remain to be seen." They also write that this experience It does not imply that all violence can disappear.More research would be needed to see if it actually works in the real world scenario, say researchers and experts.

Co-author of Dr. Roy study Hamilton, Associate Professor of Neurology at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine however says that this study is encouraging and explains, "The ability to manipulate such complex and fundamental aspects of cognition and behavior of the patient. Outside the body has enormous legal, social, ethical and maybe someday implications. Maybe the secret to having less violence in your heart is having a proper mind. imulated. "