Neural correlates of reactive aggression and their relation to socio-emotional responsivity

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Aggressive behavior is a basic form of social interactions in animals as well as in humans. Previousneuroscientific research on aggression has focused on pathological aggression in neurological and psychiatric patients. Studies have demonstrated altered responsivity to socio-emotional stimuli in these patients that is related to dysfunctions of amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). First neuroscientific studies in healthy humans support the relevance of OFC, but show also a role of other regions such as the cingulate gyrus and the striatum. To examine neural correlates of reactive aggression in humans, we will take advantage of a well-established paradigm from social psychology, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm. Based on previous work of our own lab and other groups, we want to identify relevant brain regions involved in aggressive social interactions and clarify their role with respect to responsivity to socio-emotional cues. We will examine both the effect of experimental manipulations of the socio-emotional context as well as the interindividual variability in the socio-emotional responsivity.