Could a therapy for brain damage decrease violent impulses?

A soft, 20-minute flow of electrons into both sides of the brain can cut violent impulses in half, according to a University of Pennsylvania study published Monday.

Transcranial direct current stimulation was originally developed for people suffering from brain injuries, such as a stroke, or psychiatric conditions such as depression. Roy Hamilton, a Neurologist Who Direct Penn's Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation, where the new study was done, said the results "may be the first step towards helping people with pathological levels of aggression," "goal cautions that" we are a long way (19659003) The randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted by a trio of criminologists and brain scientists.

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The study enrolled 86 healthy Philadelphia men and women in their late teens and early twenties who randomly received a single dose of brain stimulation or sham treatment. The next day, each was given a series of short stories describing physical or sexual aggression. Participants were asked to anticipate the likelihood that they would carry the aggressive acts described in the stories. Responses ranged from zero (no chance at all) to 10 (absolutely certain).

On average, subjects who were treated were 70 percent less inclined to see themselves carrying out physical assault and 70 percent less inclined towards sexual assault.

Participants were also asked to judge how they would be morally wrong. 19659008] The treated group reported a small increase in moral over the prospect of sexual assault, compared with the placebo group. No photograph was detected for physical assault.

When given a lab test for aggressive behavior, subjects given the therapy behaved the same as the placebo group. On average, both groups used the same number of pins to sta a voodoo doll on a screen. The authors acknowledged that "a single session […] may have a limited effect on behavioral change."

The researchers thing to focus on adults without diagnosed psychopathy or major criminal records. "If an offender's brain is scanned, we do not really know if it's the brain that leads to the behavior or if it's the other way around," said co-author Olivia Choy, in a statement. "One of the main objectives of this study was a causal role of this anti-social behavioral brain."

"Much of the focus in understanding causes of crime has been on social causation," said author Adrian Raine, in a statement. "That's important, but research from brain imaging and genetics has also shown that half of the variance in violence can be chalked up to biological factors. We are trying to find benign biological interventions that will accept, and transcranial direct-current stimulation is minimal risk. This is not a frontal lobotomy. "

" Historically we have not taken this kind of approach to interventions around violence, "Raine continued. "We only did one 20-minute session and we saw an effect. What if we had more sessions? What if we did it three times a week for a month? "

The team focused on a region of the brain called dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which had previously been linked to moral judgments, aggression, and antisocial behavior. 19659008] Were they jumpstarting the moral center of the brain? "That's not really how brains work," noted Hamilton. Most complex thinking is scattered throughout the brain; The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be just "part of the constellation of brain areas that are engaged in moral judgment making."

Hamilton (who has applied to his own brain to make sure it was not procedure feels "tingly – kinda itchy, burny.

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Hamilton believes low-current stimulation "nudges" brain cells closer to firing, rather than the more dramatic impact seen in shock therapy. "It's a very small effect," he said. "

Low-current brain stimulation has been studied for years, and is different from transcranial magnetic stimulation, which is being used to treat depression. A recent analysis by researchers from Europe, New Zealand and the United States found that among high-quality studies involving low-intensity stimulation, depression and fibromyalgia.