Sex differences in the neural correlates of aggression
Sex differences in the neural correlates of aggression
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DOI：
10.1007/s00429-018-1739-5
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Kohn, Nils
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Repple, Jonathan;Habel, Ute;Kohn, Nils
尽管攻击性的性别差异已经被研究了几十年，但人们对这种现象背后的神经生物学知之甚少。为了解决这一差距，本研究在20名女性和22名男性中实施了社会反应性攻击范式，采用改进的泰勒攻击任务(MTat)在功能磁共振成像环境中激发攻击行为。受试者被从假对手那里扣钱激怒，并被给予同样报复的机会。在没有行为差异的情况下，男性和女性受试者对挑衅的反应表现出不同的大脑激活模式。在高挑衅时，男性左侧杏仁核的激活程度更高。这种杏仁核的激活与男性的特质愤怒分数相关，但在女性中则不相关。此外，在刺激对比中，男性的眼眶前额叶皮质、直肠回和前扣带回(ACC)的活动与他们的攻击性反应倾向呈正相关，而女性则呈负相关。由于直肠回和OFC被认为在自动情绪调节中起着关键作用，这一发现表明，与高攻击性女性相比，高攻击性男性在应对挑衅时更大程度上使用自动情绪调节。
Although sex differences in aggression have been investigated for decades, little is known about the underlying neurobiology of this phenomenon. To address this gap, the present study implemented a social reactive aggression paradigm in 20 women and 22 men, employing a modified Taylor Aggression Task (mTAT) to provoke aggressive behavior in an fMRI setting. Subjects were provoked by money subtraction from a fake opponent and given the opportunity to retaliate likewise. In the absence of behavioral differences, male and female subjects showed differential brain activation patterns in response to provocation. Men had higher left amygdala activation during high provocation. This amygdala activation correlated with trait anger scores in men, but not in women. Also, men showed a positive association between orbitofrontal cortex, rectal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity in the provocation contrast and their tendency to respond aggressively, whereas women displayed a negative association. As the rectal gyrus and OFC have been attributed a crucial role in automatic emotion regulation, this finding points toward the assumption that highly aggressive men use automatic emotion regulation to a greater extent in response to provocation compared to highly aggressive women.